Xplore Sustainability North America 2024: Key Insights at a Critical Time for Supply Chain ESG
The Xplore Sustainability North America event returned to Chicago with a packed two days of discussions, updates, education and networking on supply chain sustainability. As companies continue to navigate a challenging landscape of operational pressures, new legislation and wider stakeholder demands, the event created space for essential conversations.
Now in its third year, Xplore Sustainability North America was a powerful reminder of the value in bringing our Sedex Community together in person. Attracting over 100 attendees across industries and experts, the event’s growth mirrors the increasing demand for knowledge, networking and contextualised guidance on supply chain sustainability.
Sedex’s in-person events provide an essential space for candid conversations on the complex world of supply chain sustainability demands, challenges and opportunities. The discussions and insights in Chicago this year reconfirmed that there are no silver-bullet solutions, no perfect businesses, and that many industries continue to face similar challenges.
Feeling comfortable to examine these issues and share concerns openly is refreshing, reassuring and crucial for our Community. By coming together for candid discussions, our attendees draw inspiration and strength from their peers across corporate sustainability and sourcing.
What we heard at Xplore: key themes in discussions
Clear need for support on legislation, amid complexity and uncertainty
One recurring theme in commentary and conversation was businesses’ urgent need for support in navigating the complex landscape of sustainability legislation and compliance. Deadlines under upcoming laws – such as the EU’s CSRD and CSDDD – loom large in business planning, while companies continue to struggle with the requirements of active laws like the US’s UFLPA and Canada’s new modern slavery Act.
Amid the busy landscape and uncertainties around how future laws will be enforced, procurement leaders and sustainability professionals seek more guidance on what compliance looks like in practice and how to work across multiple laws effectively with finite resources.
We also heard concerns that with teams needing to divert more attention to understanding legal requirements and producing reports, this risks taking resources away from other sustainability-related activities.
“Soon, ESG reporting is going to become as important as financial reporting.”
Jessica Wollmuth, EY
Increasing awareness of human rights risks in domestic supply chains
Amid increasing media coverage and scrutiny on supplier industries, US businesses are becoming more aware of human rights risks within their domestic supply chains. Driven by rising global legislation and customer demands, there is a marked sense of urgency to identify and address these risks.
Sedex’s latest product releases and the future roadmap
Our Community benefitted from deep-dive sessions on Sedex’s latest product releases: the Environment SAQ, the Service Provider SAQ and the SMETA 7.0 audit methodology. With substantial updates in SMETA 7.0, we discussed its potential to drive critical conversations between buyer and supplier businesses on how they collaborate to address complex topics such as living wages and recruitment fees.
Our Community is always keen to know what’s coming next from Sedex. Xplore Sustainability attendees were treated to a sneak preview of our focus areas for 2025, with the opportunity to question key Sedex executives further about these plans.
Challenges in managing data and reporting requirements
Addressing the reporting requirements of multiple laws and other sustainability-related needs, such as investor ESG frameworks, remains a significant challenge for businesses. Attendees shared concerns around having sufficient resources, working efficiently across different objectives, gathering accurate information from the lower tiers of their supply chains and managing vast volumes of this data to draw actionable insights.
“Partnership is the new form of leadership”
HH Global
The importance of meaningful supplier engagement
There is growing acknowledgment that deep, sustained engagement with suppliers is key to driving responsible procurement and progress on ESG performance. Companies simply cannot achieve their sustainability goals, nor comply with supply chain-focused laws like the EU CSDDD, without suppliers’ support.
Cultivating strong relationships, agreeing shared goals and identifying initiatives with win-win outcomes are all vital – both for meeting shorter-term objectives such as legislative compliance, and for ultimately driving positive progress across environmental and social goals. This reflects some of the changes in the SMETA 7.0 methodology, such as introducing the “Collaborative Action Required” finding.
The value of Community and collaboration
The procurement professionals, responsible sourcing managers and sustainability experts of our Community remain keen to network, exchange best practices and discuss addressing systemic supply chain ESG issues together.
Sedex members including confectionary company Ferrara, market activation business HH Global and ingredients provider Kalsec shared learnings from their own ESG journeys – including a worked example on supplier engagement.
Our attendees gathered practical insights from NGO Impactt on collaborative actions to address child labor, and from management consultancy EY on how to navigate the ESG “whiplash” that their own internal stakeholders – such as senior leadership – are likely exposed to.
Consultancy 2050’s Laila Petrie offered her perspective on the latest innovations for assessing Scope 3 emissions, including renewable energy certificates and carbon insets. NGO Stronger Together shared insights and recommendations on addressing forced labour and recruitment fees in supply chains.
Every session finished with time for open-floor questions, allowing our highly engaged group to put their queries directly to our guest experts.
“The level of who’s responsible for what and what it means to be responsible within these different impacts across the world, that’s the new frontier of where we need to go with climate.”
Laila Petrie, 2050
Xplore Sustainability North America 2024 provided a crucial platform for meaningful discussions, knowledge sharing, and networking. The event highlighted the importance of collaboration, continuous improvement, and the need for robust support systems in navigating the complexities of supply chain sustainability.
As we look ahead, the insights and connections forged at in-person events such as this will continue to drive progress and innovation in the supply chain sustainability space. We look forward to seeing the impact of these discussions and the continued growth of the Sedex Community.
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