Product

The sustainability consortium

The Sustainability Consortium (TSC) is a one-stop-shop solution for retailers and suppliers with sustainability toolkits for 141 consumer product categories. Its sustainability assessment system focuses on the full lifecycle and on all sustainability themes in global consumer product supply chains. In the first step of its approach (see figure below), TSC publishes the indicators and guidance for its reporting system. In the second to fourth steps, retailers and suppliers interact through a reporting cycle. The fifth and sixth steps consist of interpreting results and elaborating improvement plans.

Key Partners

The Sustainability Consortium offers its solutions to major retailers and businesses in consumer product supply chains. It consists of three universities and about 100 retail & consumer product companies and NGOs, who co-create a sustainability assessment system within the framework of a global multi-stakeholder non-profit organisation. Wageningen University & Research leads the European office; the other two universities are Arizona State University and the University of Arkansas.

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Impact

The TSC approach encourages the introduction of more sustainable products. Over 3.500 suppliers use TSC’s reporting system, representing hundreds of billion dollars in product value. The consortium aims to include one trillion dollars in in its reporting system by 2020 and is working closely with global retailers to achieve this goal. Four out of five Dutch retailers are involved in piloting the TSC system.

The use of TSC impact indicators and benchmarking allows sustainability issues to be promoted (see figure below) and stimulates innovation and continuous improvement. At the same time, TSC minimises reporting costs through harmonisation, alignment with existing leading initiatives, scaling and reuse of data.

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