CommodityMap Empowers Companies During Supply Chain Disruptions

TEMPE, Ariz., Nov. 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- In a world where supply chain disruptions have become the new normal, CommodityMap from The Sustainability Consortium (TSC) has emerged as a game-changing tool, empowering companies to maintain sustainability while navigating these challenges.

TSC has announced new insights into the real-world impact of CommodityMap, its free, cloud-based tool designed to predict environmental and social priorities in agricultural supply chains. Launched in May 2024, CommodityMap has already proven to be an indispensable resource for companies navigating the complex landscape of supply chain sustainability, particularly during unprecedented disruption.

Addressing Critical Industry Challenges
In today's globalized economy, companies face significant challenges maintaining transparency throughout their supply chains. This lack of visibility poses obstacles to sustainability performance and regulatory compliance, especially in the consumer-packaged goods (CPG) sector. Many organizations struggle to identify the precise origins of their sourced commodities, making it nearly impossible to assess their production processes' environmental and social impacts.

"The consequences of supply chain opacity are far-reaching," said Christy Slay, CEO of TSC and a senior Global Futures scientist. "Companies face difficulties in meeting sustainability goals, increased risk of reputational damage, challenges in complying with evolving regulations, inability to address potential human rights issues, and limited capacity to mitigate environmental impacts."

CommodityMap: A Powerful Solution
CommodityMap addresses these challenges by leveraging trade network modeling to identify probable source geographies for opaque supplies and then using advanced geospatial analytics to predict environmental and social priorities for predicted and reported source regions. The tool provides valuable information even with no data about sourcing regions.

Key features of CommodityMap include:

1. Insight Generation: Provides data-driven insights on environmental and social sustainability issues associated with agricultural sourcing regions.
2. Priority Setting: Helps companies prioritize efforts to address environmental and social concerns.
3. Action Recommendations: Suggests science-based actions from TSC's THESIS, offering practical solutions. 
4. Flexibility: Allows analysis even without visibility to your sourcing regions. 

Real-World Impact: Norcom's Experience
The value of CommodityMap is exemplified by the experience of Norcom, one of the world's largest manufacturers of school and office products. When the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted global supply chains, Norcom faced unprecedented challenges that tested its supply chain visibility and adaptability.

Dee Andrews, Director of Legal, Environmental, and Corporate Affairs at Norcom, explained, "Prior to 2020, Norcom's supply chain had a high degree of visibility. Everything changed during the pandemic, which forced us to source raw materials from regions with little transparency. We connected with TSC's Commodity Mapping Team to develop a map for our areas of interest using their CommodityMap tool, and they far outperformed our expectations!"

Using CommodityMap, Norcom was able to:

• Rapidly prioritize issues across different sourcing regions
• Launch targeted mitigation programs
• Gain comprehensive coverage of multiple risk factors
• Inform responses to regulatory questionnaires

Andrews noted, "When TSC completed the mapping, it was interesting that all the Aggregate Scores were good. But the tool homed in on individual metrics, and there was usually one metric (biodiversity, child labor, etc.) that was high-risk. This allowed us to determine risks for each region and take appropriate action quickly."

Looking Ahead
As more companies discover and adopt CommodityMap, TSC anticipates improved industry-wide sustainability performance, more effective responses to evolving regulations, enhanced ability to address social and environmental issues at their source, and increased consumer trust through greater transparency.

"By making CommodityMap freely available, we aim to democratize access to crucial supply chain insights, enabling companies of all sizes to contribute to a more sustainable and transparent global economy," said Forrest Follett, Manager of Data Science at TSC.

Companies interested in supporting CommodityMap and guiding its next round of innovations can explore sponsorship opportunities at https://sustainabilityconsortium.org/commodity-map-sponsorship/

Join the movement towards supply chain sustainability with CommodityMap. To start using the tool, visit https://portal.commoditymap.org/signup/

About The Sustainability Consortium (TSC)
The Sustainability Consortium (TSC) is a global non-profit organization transforming the consumer goods industry to deliver more sustainable consumer products. We work to enable a world where people can shop without worry, knowing that the products they buy are good for them, workers, and the planet. With operations managed by Arizona State University and Wageningen University & Research, TSC convenes our diverse membership of manufacturers, retailers, suppliers, service providers, NGOs, civil society organizations, governmental agencies, and academics to work collaboratively to build science-based decision tools and solutions that address sustainability issues that are materially important throughout a product's supply chain and lifecycle. TSC also offers a portfolio of services to help drive effective implementation. Our mission is to use the best sustainability science to help companies make the everyday products we use better and more sustainable. The Sustainability Consortium has more than 100 members and there are over 2,000 users of TSC tools worldwide; it convenes more than 200 global organizations annually over an average of 75 networking opportunities. TSC's worldwide reach and impact during the year includes: 1,500 users of TSC tools and services; 40 Full TSC members and 65 engagement members; and over 100 events including webinars and meetings.

SOURCE The Sustainability Consortium