RS Group’s Strategy for Sustainable Supply Chains

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Leaders from RS Group discuss how to the create the supply chains of tomorrow
RS Group's VP of Social Responsibility and Sustainability and VP for Supply Chain Optimisation discuss how to the create the supply chains of tomorrow

Supply chain sustainability is rapidly becoming a hot topic for industry leaders, with many focusing on Scope 3 emissions and electrification.

A recent report from EY found more than 90% of an organisation's greenhouse gas emissions are attributable to supply chains, whilst one report from Accenture found that supply chains account for around 60% of global carbon emissions.

At the same time, half of all CEOs view supply chain responsibility as integral to their sustainability strategy and DP World reveals 82% of industry professionals say embracing sustainability has improved their organisation's financial performance. 

RS Group, a top distributor of industrial and electrical products, is at the forefront of developing sustainable supply chains.

In a recent discussion, Andrea Barrett, VP of Social Responsibility and Sustainability, and Carolyn Park, VP for Supply Chain Optimisation, shed light on how the company is paving the way for greener practices.

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Carolyn Park, Vice President of Group Supply Chain, is responsible for optimising the supply chain across the group, focusing on cost, service and sustainability. Her primary goal is to reduce carbon footprint, especially in transport and packaging.

Andrea Barrett, the Vice President of Social Responsibility and Sustainability, oversees the group’s ESG agenda. This role involves strategising for the 2030 action plan, setting goals and implementing initiatives.

Her emphasis is on exceeding compliance requirements and embedding sustainability into the core business model to create value for all stakeholders. The team collaborates closely with various departments, including supply chain, to report on progress and engage stakeholders effectively. 

RS recently published its annual ESG report. Could you tell us more about the findings and explain what a Better World product means?

“Every year we publish our annual ESG or sustainability report, which provides a much fuller picture of everything we've achieved across our action plan,” Andrea explains.

The initiative responds to rising customer demand for eco-friendly options by ensuring that sustainability claims are backed by scientific verification.

“We've reduced emissions by 57%, so well on our way to achieving that 75% reduction,” Andrea notes. They work closely with suppliers, providing a standardised framework to align with green claims guidance and demonstrating the commercial and environmental benefits of sustainable practices.

This effort supports their broader goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2030, covering all scopes of emissions.

RS has developed a robust framework, in collaboration with specialists, to identify 17 key product improvements across the product lifecycle: sourcing, performance and end-of-life. This framework ensures that sustainability claims are scientifically verified, ideally by third-party certifications, providing customers with trustworthy information.

"We need to inspire and influence [suppliers] and offer them that commercial opportunity through things like marketing of the products or boosted products so that they can see that actually investing in these sustainability improvements has a commercial return as well as a return for the environment," Andrea concludes.

Andrea Barrett, RS Group

What do you think the future of packaging looks like for RS and the wider industry?

"What's really important to us is the reuse of materials. We've introduced totes and pallets so that when we move around our network between the UK and into Europe we now have replaced tonnes and tonnes of cardboard that used to make those journeys," says Carolyn. 

RS is actively reviewing all packaging to identify areas for reduction in tonnage, with a strong emphasis on enhancing the customer experience by ensuring packaging is sustainable and reusable. This includes listening to customer feedback to continuously improve packaging solutions.

A notable initiative in this regard is the concept of "eco totes," which involves consolidating deliveries in reusable materials that can be returned and reused, leveraging learnings from internal logistics for customer-facing solutions.

Collaboration is essential to achieving these goals. RS works closely with packaging suppliers to innovate and develop more sustainable solutions, such as transitioning to JIFFIES with all-paper content.

"We are working with our suppliers, doing testing with them so that we jointly co-create what that future looks like. No one individual is going to make this happen. We have to collaborate with packaging suppliers and we have to collaborate with customers to get their ideas as well," Carolyn adds.

Supply Chain Digital also covered RS Group's 'The Supply Chain of Tomorrow' panel, featuring speakers from CIPS, Siemens and Schneider Electric

Why is tackling Scope 3 emissions so important and how can companies make progress on this?

"Scope 3 emissions are more than 90% of a company's total carbon footprint," Andrea highlights.

"It's incumbent on the businesses that are really driving the agenda, its on the big businesses to really lead the way.

"You’ve got to start with measuring it because you can’t tackle what you can’t see and what you can’t measure. Then, similarly, you’ve got other big categories; purchase goods and services, products in use."

RS exemplifies this approach by analysing logistics emissions, understanding shipment routes and distances.

The company emphasises that setting accurate measurements and building strategies around each emission category is essential.

For example, shifting modes of transport has significantly reduced carbon emissions and costs simultaneously, illustrating that environmental and financial goals can align.

"Having KPIs that are embedded in the business for sustainability is key - every one of those KPIs is embedded somewhere in the business. Sustainability is a key metric at the forefront of everything that we do," Andrea concludes. 

RS Group also has an EV salary sacrifice scheme

How can companies integrate their ESG goals with supply chain optimisation- does AI and digitalisation have a role to play? 

"The way to make sustainability a standard business activity will be to use the modern practices in data around AI and machine learning in the future," says Andrea. 

AI can collect and analyse data to measure carbon footprints accurately, for example - however, many sectors still rely on traditional methods.

To streamline and standardise sustainability practices, integrating modern data techniques is essential, as these technologies can handle complex and time-consuming processes more efficiently and for less cost. 

You often talk about collaboration between competitors and across industries as the way forward to achieve sustainability goals- could you explain how you think that might work on a practical level? 

"The only way for me we can tackle this end to end is absolutely through collaboration," says Andrea. 

By working together, more advanced companies can share their expertise with those less developed, fostering mutual growth and improvement. According to Andrea and Carolyn, this approach is not limited to external partnerships but should also extend internally within organisations to maximise impact.

"It’s about building relationships to learn from those that are better developed, but also pass that knowledge on to others," Andrea comments. 

They conclude the discussion with a provocative question: "The future is actual enablement. How do you bring your supply chain together and make it easy for them to take action?"


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