Sedex Drives Better ESG Risk Assessment With 340,000+ Data Points

LONDON, June 7, 2022 /3BL Media/ - Sedex, the trusted partner for environment, social and governance (ESG) and sustainable data, has released an update to its industry-leading risk assessment technology. The Radar tool provides businesses with more than 340,000 risk scores to identify and compare supply chain risks globally.

Companies face increasing demands from customers, investors and regulators to manage sustainability risks. This can place significant pressure on business resources - but equipped with Radar’s data, insights, and analysis features, companies can manage these risks effectively across supply chains spanning continents and industries.

Sedex has updated the data in the proprietary risk tool to ensure Radar remains at the forefront of risk analysis technology, empowering businesses to efficiently assess, benchmark and report on social and environmental risk across commodities and sectors.

Radar’s risk scores cover 14 issue areas for 248 countries* and 99 industries, across risks such as forced labour, business ethics, and environmental issues. The higher the score, the higher the risk. The tool also incorporates data on the thousands of people and work sites in a company’s supply chain where this is available, providing increased insight with a unique risk score for every site.

The scores are calculated by a custom algorithm that draws on the latest data from authoritative sources on social and environmental risks. These include the World Bank, the International Labour Organization, and the International Trade Union Confederation’s Global Rights Index. A new source for 2022 ensures Radar’s health and safety scores reflect the increasing risk to workers’ health from climate change [1].

Sedex member Waitrose & Partners says, “Responsible sourcing is at the heart of Waitrose & Partners, as we are a co-owned business that prides itself on ensuring the lives of all workers is respected. We are able to champion responsible sourcing through ethical supply chain due diligence by using Radar, as it allows us to analyse site-level risks to ascertain where there are risks and how salient they are. We then use this information to determine audit frequency for the next stage of our ethical compliance programme.”

Radar enables businesses to assess different suppliers, products and sectors at scale, saving time and money. Its in-depth insights support companies to make data-driven decisions, focus their resources on the highest-priority risks, and take action to drive meaningful, sustainable impact.

“Supply chains are long and complex, with businesses often unaware of the risks they face. The right technology and data is critical for a company to build visibility of all their suppliers and understand where the greatest risks are, to respond accordingly. We provide businesses with a scalable, manageable way to do this, so they can prioritise their efforts and ultimately run more transparent, sustainable operations,” says Jon Hancock, CEO at Sedex.

Sedex member Remy Cointreau says, “Radar is an integral part of our supplier risk assessment and management process. We use the tool to build visibility of suppliers’ risk levels across nearly two hundred work sites, and can monitor these at scale. We create a criticality grid using the risk scores to help us focus our risk management activities. If suppliers are in a high-risk zone, we conduct corporate social responsibility (CSR) audits and develop action plans to reduce the level of risk at work sites.”

Sedex member Agrial Fresh Produce says, “Radar has been an integral tool in the creation of Agrial Fresh Produce’s supplier ethical risk assessment. Its intuitive user interface, coupled with the deep insight that the data provided, was invaluable in our journey to mapping the ethical composition of our entire worldwide supply base - enabling us to implement strategies to minimise our exposure to high-risk suppliers.”

[1] The ND-GAIN Country Index from the University of Notre Dame, which summarises a country’s vulnerability to climate change and other global challenges in combination with its readiness to improve resilience.

Notes
*includes some overseas territories, e.g. French Polynesia

About Sedex
Sedex is the trusted partner for ESG and sustainable impact, providing accessible, affordable and intelligent tools that enable businesses to tackle key sustainability issues. Over 66,000 businesses use Sedex’s technology and insights to manage business risk, build supply chain visibility, comply with legislation, operate sustainably and drive positive impacts for people and the environment.

Sedex is a membership organisation with offices in Australia, Chile, China, India, Japan and the USA. Members include many of the world’s biggest brands, such as Marks & Spencer, Proctor & Gamble, Reckitt, British Airways, The Body Shop and Bidfood. Visit our website for more information.

About Radar
Radar is a risk assessment and analysis tool, enabling companies to assess risks by country and sector, and also by individual work site where they have data on workers and activities. The tool allows organisations to identify and compare the levels of risk between countries, suppliers and individual sites, facilitating prioritisation for further activity to address and manage their most salient issues.

Radar comprises hundreds of data points from independent, authoritative sources on human rights and environmental risks in supply chains. Radar also includes worksite data from supplier Self-Assessment Questionnaires (SAQ) and from social audit reports. Learn more here: https://www.sedex.com/understanding-supply-chain-risks-with-the-radar-risk-tool/