Supply Chain Sustainability Score 2025/26

ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) supply chain due diligence means systematically assessing and managing the sustainability risks in your supplier base. It covers environmental risks (carbon emissions, resource use, pollution), social risks (labour standards, modern slavery, health and safety), and governance risks (anti-bribery, data security, ethical sourcing). Large customers increasingly require SME suppliers to demonstrate ESG compliance through questionnaires, audits or third-party ratings like Ecovadis.

The Modern Slavery Act 2015 requires commercial organisations with an annual UK turnover of £36 million or more to publish an annual modern slavery statement on their website. The statement must describe the steps taken to identify and address modern slavery risks in the business and supply chain. There is no mandatory content requirement but HMRC guidance sets out six key areas to address. Failure to publish a statement is an offence and the government is moving towards mandatory minimum content requirements.

Scope 3 Category 1 (purchased goods and services) is often the largest single source of business emissions — typically 70-90% of a manufacturer's or retailer's total footprint. Measuring and reducing supply chain emissions requires engagement with Tier 1 suppliers to obtain their product-level carbon data. Tools like the CDP supply chain programme and the Supplier Engagement Rating allow businesses to benchmark and improve supplier carbon disclosure rates.