Sustainability in supply chains means assessing environmental, social and economic impacts as well as promoting good governance across the entire value chain of products and services. The per capita environmental impacts of Switzerland's global supply chains are the highest in the world.
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To be able to improve the negative impacts of Switzerland's economic activities and public procurement, innovative approaches need to be developed. Approaches and new findings in this regard can be found in three research projects.
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The Co-Creation Lab \"Data Transparency for Sustainability\" provides access to comprehensive data on Switzerland's global supply chains. This advances the state of the art in environmental and social life cycle analysis and provides a comprehensive overview of the Swiss consumption footprint.
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\n","bild":{"id":1043,"alt":false,"caption":false,"small":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/preview_633ad2ec5f415.jpg","normal":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/normal_633ad2ec5f415.jpg","large":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/retina_full_633ad2ec5f415.jpg"},"textNachBild":"","optionen":[],"internerLink":[],"linkText":""}},{"component":"ProjekteTeaser","data":{"id":708,"title":"Projekte","slug":"projekte","link":"/en/dev/part-data/lieferketten-elemente/projekte","optionen":["inherit"],"projects":[{"id":447,"title":"Open assessment of Swiss economy and society","slug":"open-assessment-of-swiss-economy-and-society","link":"/en/projects/open-assessment-of-swiss-economy-and-society","tags":[{"id":42,"slug":"bodies-confederation-cantons-municipalities","title":"Bodies (Confederation, cantons, municipalities)","link":"/en/tags/viewpoint/bodies-confederation-cantons-municipalities","group":40},{"id":44,"slug":"ngos-and-civil-society","title":"NGOs and civil society","link":"/en/tags/viewpoint/ngos-and-civil-society","group":40},{"id":45,"slug":"consumers","title":"Consumers","link":"/en/tags/viewpoint/consumers","group":40},{"id":1105,"slug":"resource-scarcity-and-resource-efficiency","title":"Resource scarcity and resource efficiency","link":"/en/tags/focus/resource-scarcity-and-resource-efficiency","group":145},{"id":1106,"slug":"international-trade-and-security-of-supply","title":"International trade and security of supply","link":"/en/tags/focus/international-trade-and-security-of-supply","group":145},{"id":1107,"slug":"retail-trade-and-consumption","title":"Retail trade and consumption","link":"/en/tags/focus/retail-trade-and-consumption","group":145},{"id":1109,"slug":"life-cycle-assessment-lca","title":"Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)","link":"/en/tags/focus/life-cycle-assessment-lca","group":145},{"id":1113,"slug":"digitisation","title":"Digitisation","link":"/en/tags/focus/digitisation","group":145}],"vorschaubild":{"id":58,"alt":false,"caption":false,"small":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/preview_62debd0402106.jpg","normal":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/normal_62debd0402106.jpg","large":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/retina_full_62debd0402106.jpg"},"kontakt":"Dr. Christopher Mutel","optionen":["full"],"technicalName":"","projektLink":"","topic":101,"sdg":303,"color":"#D28D0D","parts":[{"component":"TextBild","data":{"id":449,"title":"Open assessment of Swiss economy and society","slug":"transparente-umweltbewertung-und-nachhaltigkeitsanalyse-des-schweizer-endverbrauchs-bearbeiten","link":"","textVorBild":"","bild":{"id":58,"alt":false,"caption":false,"small":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/preview_62debd0402106.jpg","normal":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/normal_62debd0402106.jpg","large":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/retina_full_62debd0402106.jpg"},"textNachBild":"","optionen":["cropped"],"internerLink":[],"linkText":""}},{"component":"MediaTeaser","data":{"id":460,"title":"Media and news","slug":"medien-und-neuigkeiten","link":"/en/dev/part-data/transparente-umweltbewertung-und-nachhaltigkeitsanalyse-des-schweizer-endverbrauchs-elemente/medien-und-neuigkeiten","media":[],"optionen":[]}},{"component":"TextBild","data":{"id":451,"title":"Background","slug":"hintergrund","link":"","textVorBild":"
Background
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There have been multiple reports looking into environmental impacts and critical resources in the Swiss economy. These reports were ad hoc and difficult to reproduce or compare. A more accurate and complete accounting is of critical interest to a broad set of stakeholders across Switzerland. Such accounting must represent both Swiss and global supply chains in detail, must have quantified uncertainty, and must be reproducible and easy to update in the future.
1) Develop a new approach that combines a top-down with a bottom-up database of how resources and energy flow through the economy, in order to produce a detailed and complete picture of these supply chains and their resulting environmental impacts; 2) Add social impacts to this picture; 3) Add critical resources and potential supply chain disruptions to this picture; 4) Develop a global sensitivity analysis framework that can efficiently and accurately process these data and indicators.
A new approach has been developed that allows assessing country-specific supply disruption impacts along a supply chain of technologies. The approach has been applied to the case study of electric vehicles sold in Switzerland, for which hotspots as well as the overall impact of supply disruptions of the cobalt and aluminium supply chains were assessed. Although some materials or steps were already broadly known, such as extraction of cobalt in the DRC, new critical steps were identified, such as the manufacture of aluminium wiring harnesses in Morocco. The disruption to global supply chains of seemingly common resources during the Covid-19 pandemic shows the value of our approach.
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An open source approach
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An open source approach to merging life-cycle inventory databases has been developed and applied to ecoinvent and exiobase. Combining a complete but highly-aggregated database with a detailed set of process models covering some parts of the economy has produced our best picture yet of the environmental impacts of Swiss household consumption of resources, and allowed us to prioritise future data improvement efforts.
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As our approach is available as open source software, and uses open supplemental data, it can continue to be updated in the future by researchers and other stakeholders. The geographic resolution of our input data proved incompatible with the social indicators database, and no robust analysis of social impacts could be carried out.
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Global sensitivity analysis
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We developed a global sensitivity analysis procedure that can efficiently handle large databases with hundreds of thousands of uncertainty input parameters, and can include correlated or grouped parameters, and uncertainties that cannot be made to fit probability distribution functions. One key innovation was the use of iterative validation during the screening steps which identify and exclude noninfluential parameters.
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This validation step allows us to quantify how well our reduced model replicates the full model results, and is computationally efficient as it allows already calculated model runs to be reused. A test for linearity of the reduced model allows for quick calculation of correlation coefficients where possible, or the use of a machine-learning algorithm to calculate sensitivity indices if necessary. The procedure is implemented in open source software building on the Brightway open source life-cycle assessment framework.
\n","bild":[],"textNachBild":"","optionen":["highlighted"],"internerLink":[],"linkText":""}},{"component":"TextBild","data":{"id":454,"title":"Implications for research","slug":"bedeutung-fuer-die-forschung","link":"","textVorBild":"
Implications for research
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The development of a criticality indicator based on detailed supply chains found in BACI trade data opens up new possibilities for life-cycle assessment database development. Tightly coupling finished databases such as ecoinvent and exiobase proved infeasible, but combining the input data behind these databases could be fruitful. Global sensitivity analysis shows the urgent need for more realistic and complex inventory models and high-quality data on uncertainty.
\n","bild":[],"textNachBild":"","optionen":[],"internerLink":[],"linkText":""}},{"component":"TextBild","data":{"id":455,"title":"Implications for practice","slug":"bedeutung-fuer-die-praxis","link":"","textVorBild":"
Implications for practice
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Our research revealed that existing database quality and modelling poses severe questions for robust life-cycle sustainability analysis (LCA). Sensitivity analysis should be applied to all LCA studies, and data quality iteratively improved through revised statistical models and geographic disaggregation. Multiple databases with different data foundations should be used whenever possible. Resource criticality indicators using open data can be calculated for detailed supply chains.
\n","bild":[],"textNachBild":"","optionen":[],"internerLink":[],"linkText":""}},{"component":"Publikationen","data":{"id":692,"title":"Publications","slug":"publikationen","link":"/en/dev/part-data/transparente-umweltbewertung-und-nachhaltigkeitsanalyse-des-schweizer-endverbrauchs-elemente/publikationen","optionen":["parent"],"altLink":"","altDatei":[],"project":447}},{"component":"PersonTeaser","data":{"id":450,"title":"Contact","slug":"kontakt","link":"/en/dev/part-data/transparente-umweltbewertung-und-nachhaltigkeitsanalyse-des-schweizer-endverbrauchs-elemente/kontakt","person":{"id":446,"title":"Dr. Christopher Mutel","slug":"dr-christopher-mutel","link":"/en/people/dr-christopher-mutel","bild":{"id":53,"alt":false,"caption":false,"small":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/preview_62d940a236b0b.jpg","normal":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/normal_62d940a236b0b.jpg","large":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/retina_full_62d940a236b0b.jpg"},"name":"Dr. Christopher Mutel","email":"christopher.mutel@psi.ch","telefon":"+41 56 310 57 87","addresse":"
The OASES project conducted basic scientific research for better understanding the impact of Swiss household consumption and supply chains. We developed new and open methods for assessing critical resources, merging databases, and understanding and reducing result uncertainty.
\n"},{"id":413,"title":"Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP)","slug":"sustainable-public-procurement-spp","link":"/en/projects/sustainable-public-procurement-spp","tags":[{"id":42,"slug":"bodies-confederation-cantons-municipalities","title":"Bodies (Confederation, cantons, municipalities)","link":"/en/tags/viewpoint/bodies-confederation-cantons-municipalities","group":40},{"id":43,"slug":"politics","title":"Politics","link":"/en/tags/viewpoint/politics","group":40},{"id":1105,"slug":"resource-scarcity-and-resource-efficiency","title":"Resource scarcity and resource efficiency","link":"/en/tags/focus/resource-scarcity-and-resource-efficiency","group":145},{"id":1110,"slug":"value-chain","title":"Value chain","link":"/en/tags/focus/value-chain","group":145},{"id":1112,"slug":"education-skills-and-social-welfare","title":"Education, skills and social welfare","link":"/en/tags/focus/education-skills-and-social-welfare","group":145}],"vorschaubild":{"id":932,"alt":false,"caption":false,"small":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/preview_6319830f469fe.jpg","normal":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/normal_6319830f469fe.jpg","large":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/retina_full_6319830f469fe.jpg"},"kontakt":"Prof. Dr. Dr. Peter Seele","optionen":["full"],"technicalName":"","projektLink":"","topic":101,"sdg":303,"color":"#D28D0D","parts":[{"component":"TextBild","data":{"id":1117,"title":"Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP)","slug":"intro","link":"","textVorBild":"","bild":{"id":935,"alt":false,"caption":false,"small":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/preview_631983257333e.jpg","normal":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/normal_631983257333e.jpg","large":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/retina_full_631983257333e.jpg"},"textNachBild":"
An interdisciplinary research team from Lugano and Bern analysed existing procurement practices for the status quo of implementing sustainability and derived customised sustainability indicators for SPP within a Swiss context that were benchmarked against feasibility within Swiss legislation.
\n","optionen":["cropped"],"internerLink":[],"linkText":""}},{"component":"MediaTeaser","data":{"id":426,"title":"Media and news","slug":"medien-und-neuigkeiten","link":"/en/dev/part-data/nachhaltigkeit-im-oeffentlichen-beschaffungswesen-elemente/medien-und-neuigkeiten","media":[{"id":1267,"title":"Podcast E7: Das öffentliche Beschaffungswesen kann die ökologische ...","slug":"podcast-e7-das-oeffentliche-beschaffungswesen-kann-die-oekologische","link":"https://open.spotify.com/episode/1ySIqjwTiIriNM0gFne7wr","bild":{"id":1151,"alt":false,"caption":false,"small":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/preview_63e23d846539d.jpg","normal":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/normal_63e23d846539d.jpg","large":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/retina_full_63e23d846539d.jpg"},"datum":"2023-02-06","type":"podcasts","parent":908},{"id":1199,"title":"Nachhaltige Öffentliche Beschaffung","slug":"nachhaltige-oeffentliche-beschaffung","link":"https://nfp73.ch/download/33/nfp73-broschuere-nachhaltige-oeffentliche-beschaffung.pdf?inline=true","bild":{"id":976,"alt":false,"caption":false,"small":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/preview_6320687e68530.jpg","normal":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/normal_6320687e68530.jpg","large":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/retina_full_6320687e68530.jpg"},"datum":"2021-01-01","type":"policy-briefs","parent":910},{"id":1171,"title":"Seele - Sustainable public procurement","slug":"seele-sustainable-public-procurement","link":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UasxgNvGxiA","bild":{"id":1018,"alt":false,"caption":false,"small":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/preview_633581c5d7c96.jpg","normal":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/normal_633581c5d7c96.jpg","large":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/retina_full_633581c5d7c96.jpg"},"datum":"2018-02-03","type":"videos","parent":907}],"optionen":["parent"]}},{"component":"TextBild","data":{"id":417,"title":"Background","slug":"hintergrund","link":"","textVorBild":"
Background
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SPP still lacks a commonly agreed, formalised framework for measuring and comparing sustainability. National legislators are increasingly promoting SPP. The introduced and upcoming revised public procurement legislations mandate the comparison of sustainability in public procurement tender processes as the Swiss case of adopting the WTO’s General Procurement Agreement (GPA) and the Federal Act on Public Procurement (PPA). Furthermore, guidelines such as the recently introduced ISO 20400 lack clear common means for measuring and comparing sustainability. With the research presented in this project, we aimed to contribute to closing this gap.
Within the interdisciplinary project “Sustainable Public Procurement” (SPP), Team Stürmer (Informatics, Berne) analysed existing procurement tenders regarding existing sustainability implementation. Based on the status quo results, Team Seele (Business Ethics, Lugano) identified the most pertinent and suitable sustainability indicators proposed for playing a more important role in SPP, alsoincorporating the different approaches in Europe (fixed and less adaptive) and the peculiarities in Switzerland (adoptable with an emphasis on individual responsibility, here the procurer). Finally, Team DeRossa (Legal Studies, Lugano) tested the theoretically derived indicators regarding their feasibility within existing Swiss legislation and subsequent potential for improvement.
Team Stürmer empirically analysed procurement data from the Swiss public sector agencies. By developing a sector-specific method for identifying sustainability criteria in procurement documents, the team was able to measure sustainability performance in Swiss tender datasets. In particular, they focused on selection criteria, technical specifications and award criteria in tendering files of ICT, construction, road transport, food and catering and textile procurement. The results indicate that sustainability criteria are not yet common in public tenders but have grown in recent years.
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Lugano Ethics:
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Team Seele identified existing sustainability indicators from various fields and their suitability for sustainable public procurement, incorporating case studies from Team Stürmer’s big data analysis. This led to peer-review journal publications on a typological analysis of sustainability indicators in general (Knebel and Seele 2020) and more specifically in the case of Switzerland (Knebel and Seele 2021), among other publications.
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Lugano Legal:
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Sustainability indicators identified by Team Seele represent an important tool for increasing sustainability in procurement practices since they propose new criteria already tested in corporate reporting, which are therefore already well known in private companies. The legal part of the research has detected the scope that public procurers potentially have for integrating these indicators into the legally permissible sustainability criteria, while also highlighting the potential critical issues that could arise from it.
\n","bild":[],"textNachBild":"","optionen":["highlighted"],"internerLink":[],"linkText":""}},{"component":"TextBild","data":{"id":420,"title":"Implications for research","slug":"bedeutung-fuer-die-forschung","link":"","textVorBild":"
Implications for research
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Bern:
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Methodological contributions were made by defining sector-specific indicators on how to measure sustainability in procurement criteria. In addition, the collected tender data presents an opportunity to continue researching in sustainable public procurement.
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Lugano Ethics:
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The project is also the first to introduce SPP as a communication process into the academic field of communication management(Knebel and Seele 2020). Furthermore, the specific approach to appreciating the role of the individual procurer over the administrative process of ticking-boxes exercises with regard to the Swiss context is novel and added to the knowledge of SPP (Knebel and Seele 2021).
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Lugano Legal:
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From a legal point of view, two dogmatic issues remain unexplored and will have to be addressed in the future in order to improvesustainability in public procurement: the extent/scope of the requirement for a link between the sustainability criteria and the subjectmatter of the contract, and the need for compulsory sustainability criteria in legislation.
\n","bild":[],"textNachBild":"","optionen":[],"internerLink":[],"linkText":""}},{"component":"TextBild","data":{"id":421,"title":"Implications for practice","slug":"bedeutung-fuer-die-praxis","link":"","textVorBild":"
Implications for practice
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Bern:
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The collected procurement data and tender documents are made publicly available through a separately funded online platform called IntelliProcure that allows practitioners to search for and reuse procurement information.
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Lugano Ethics:
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The set of ten thematic indicator clusters offers additional guidance to procurers on how to be flexible in adapting to various, context- andindustry-specific sustainability challenges, as no one-size-fits-all solution exists.
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The thematic indicator clusters are: human rights, supply chain control, environmental and social risks, gender pay gap, sustainabilitymanagement certification, measures to combat corruption, greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, investments insustainability, and stakeholder description.
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Lugano Legal:
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The legal analysis provides public procurers and legislators with a set of legal guidelines designed to effectively encourage a paradigm shift toward sustainability in public procurement.
\n","bild":[],"textNachBild":"","optionen":[],"internerLink":[],"linkText":""}},{"component":"Publikationen","data":{"id":664,"title":"Publications","slug":"publikationen","link":"/en/dev/part-data/nachhaltigkeit-im-oeffentlichen-beschaffungswesen-elemente/publikationen","optionen":["parent"],"altLink":"","altDatei":[],"project":413}},{"component":"PersonTeaser","data":{"id":416,"title":"Contact","slug":"kontakt","link":"/en/dev/part-data/nachhaltigkeit-im-oeffentlichen-beschaffungswesen-elemente/kontakt","person":{"id":412,"title":"Prof. Dr. Dr. Peter Seele","slug":"prof-dr-dr-peter-seele","link":"/en/people/prof-dr-dr-peter-seele","bild":{"id":906,"alt":false,"caption":false,"small":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/preview_630ef95a3de92.jpg","normal":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/normal_630ef95a3de92.jpg","large":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/retina_full_630ef95a3de92.jpg"},"name":"Prof. Dr. Dr. Peter Seele","email":"peter.seele@usi.ch","telefon":"+41 58 666 42 96","addresse":"
via Giuseppe Buffi 13 \n6904 Lugano
\n","institut":"
Ethics and Communication Law Center, Università della Svizzera Italiana
I am enthusiastic about the project because it is the first to develop methods to improve the data on public procurement. In this way, it creates an essential basis for decision-making for politics and the economy, for contracting authorities and suppliers.
\n","author":"Thomas M. Fischer","institution":"Procurement Conference of the Canton of Bern","role":"Chairman"},"t2":{"id":765,"title":"t2","slug":"t2","link":"/en/dev/part-data/testimonials-testimonials/t2","quote":"
The research project shows an interesting path how to describe what sustainability can mean in the context of specific categories of goods. The evidence bears raising awareness that not only research on public procurement, but also the procurement procedure itself is by nature interdisciplinary, will help us all for the future.
\n","author":"Marc Steiner","institution":"Swiss Federal Administrative Court","role":"Judge"}}}}],"intro":"
Developing and Testing Sustainability Indicators for Public Procurement Tenders in Switzerland in line with the WTO Government Procurement Agreement – and their social acceptability and legal feasibility
\n"},{"id":135,"title":"Enhancing supply chain sustainability","slug":"enhancing-supply-chain-sustainability","link":"/en/projects/enhancing-supply-chain-sustainability","tags":[{"id":41,"slug":"company","title":"Company","link":"/en/tags/viewpoint/company","group":40},{"id":44,"slug":"ngos-and-civil-society","title":"NGOs and civil society","link":"/en/tags/viewpoint/ngos-and-civil-society","group":40},{"id":1106,"slug":"international-trade-and-security-of-supply","title":"International trade and security of supply","link":"/en/tags/focus/international-trade-and-security-of-supply","group":145},{"id":1110,"slug":"value-chain","title":"Value chain","link":"/en/tags/focus/value-chain","group":145},{"id":1111,"slug":"policy-instruments-and-legal-framework","title":"Policy instruments and legal framework","link":"/en/tags/focus/policy-instruments-and-legal-framework","group":145},{"id":1115,"slug":"ecosystem-and-climate","title":"Ecosystem and climate","link":"/en/tags/focus/ecosystem-and-climate","group":145}],"vorschaubild":{"id":77,"alt":false,"caption":false,"small":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/preview_62df7fcb6a3bb.jpg","normal":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/normal_62df7fcb6a3bb.jpg","large":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/retina_full_62df7fcb6a3bb.jpg"},"kontakt":"Dr. Christian Schader","optionen":[],"technicalName":"","projektLink":"https://www.fibl.org/de/themen/projektdatenbank/projektitem/project/1478","topic":101,"sdg":303,"color":"#D28D0D","parts":[{"component":"TextBild","data":{"id":548,"title":"Enhancing supply chain sustainability","slug":"intro","link":"","textVorBild":"","bild":{"id":77,"alt":false,"caption":false,"small":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/preview_62df7fcb6a3bb.jpg","normal":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/normal_62df7fcb6a3bb.jpg","large":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/retina_full_62df7fcb6a3bb.jpg"},"textNachBild":"","optionen":["cropped"],"internerLink":[],"linkText":""}},{"component":"MediaTeaser","data":{"id":633,"title":"Media and news","slug":"medien-und-neuigkeiten","link":"/en/dev/part-data/nachhaltigere-wertschoepfungsketten-elemente/medien-und-neuigkeiten","media":[{"id":1362,"title":"A sustainable food system in the 21st century?","slug":"ein-nachhaltiges-ernaehrungssystem-im-21-jahrhundert","link":"https://youtu.be/xiASPp7K4Z4","bild":{"id":1181,"alt":false,"caption":false,"small":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/preview_645dfaed47628.jpg","normal":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/normal_645dfaed47628.jpg","large":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/retina_full_645dfaed47628.jpg"},"datum":"2023-05-12","type":"videos","parent":907},{"id":1350,"title":"Completed NRP 73 research project: Enhancing supply chain sustainability","slug":"abgeschlossenes-nfp-73-forschungsprojekt-nachhaltigere-wertschoepfungsketten","link":"/en/mediacenter/news/abgeschlossenes-nfp-73-forschungsprojekt-nachhaltigere-wertschoepfungsketten","datum":"2023-04-17","bild":{"id":1175,"alt":false,"caption":false,"small":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/preview_643d0bf587444.jpg","normal":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/normal_643d0bf587444.jpg","large":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/retina_full_643d0bf587444.jpg"},"type":"news","parent":906}],"optionen":["parent"]}},{"component":"TextBild","data":{"id":634,"title":"Background","slug":"hintergrund","link":"","textVorBild":"
Background
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Swiss chocolate makers are increasingly held accountable for the environmental, social, and economic impacts of their supply chains. Despite numerous sustainability initiatives, many challenges remain, and diverse supply chain actors need to build resilience to better face increasing shocks in global chains. Addressing sustainability and resilience in supply chains requires an understanding of the current situation, the major challenges, and the effectiveness of sustainable sourcing practices.
The project followed three aims: 1) To assess the sustainability of specific supply chains providing cocoa to the Swiss market. Based on these results, we could then design, implement, and evaluate targeted interventions. 2) To evaluate the relationships between diverse supply chain partners and how farmers view the sustainable sourcing practices in their supply chains. 3) To advance resilience research by developing and testing a farm-level resilience assessment framework.
We found that the farm level had the largest environmental impact in cocoa supply chains, which are mainly influenced by land-use change and input use. When assessing farm-level sustainability through a comprehensive lense, major sustainabiltiy challenges were identified in the governance and social dimensions. While environmentally-friendly cocoa production brought important co-benefits regarding human health and resource conservation for farms' long-term productivity, these came at the expense of farm investment and profitability. The evaluation of the supply chain interventions targeting pesticide use on cocoa farms revealed that relying purely on farmer training is not sufficient to achieve the wide-spread adoption of sustainable cocoa farming practices.
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Benefits and disadvantages of sustainable sourcing practices
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Farmers perceived both benefits and disadvantages from the sustainable sourcing practices in their supply chains. Farmers’ relationships with their direct buyers were complex and variable, with trust in, and commitment to, their direct buyers depending on a range of factors, including the duration of the professional relationship and the availability of competitors. Conflicts mainly arose due to prices, insufficient communication, and lack of support. The responding farmers collectively expressed a wish for training to be less theoretical, and to be more practice-oriented and supportive for the farmers.
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Transformation and supply chain resilience capacity
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Short-term absorptive (e.g. economic robustness), medium-term adaptive (e.g. economic adaptability), and long-term transformative (e.g. social infrastructure) capacities are three distinct capacities defined by resilience theory. Our results showed that farmers with high short-term absorptive capacities, e.g. through diversified livelihoods or the adoption of good agricultural practices, could counter the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic more strongly. This suggests that studies on farm resilience should differentiate between the three individual capacities and address specific strategies against known risks, instead of aggregating results to one single resilience score. We also identified important ways in which farmers can increase their resilience, such as reduction of travel or cultivation of subsistance crops. This, however, holds important trade-offs with the general resilience of supply chains.
\n","bild":[],"textNachBild":"","optionen":["highlighted"],"internerLink":[],"linkText":""}},{"component":"TextBild","data":{"id":636,"title":"Implications for research","slug":"bedeutung","link":"","textVorBild":"
Implications for research
\n\n
Our project extended the knowledge of sustainability and resilience of cocoa supply chains. The in-depth analysis at farm-level enabled us to identify the main trade-offs and synergies between sustainability dimensions. Environmental-social trade-offs included food security, dietary diversity, and on-farm job creation. Liquidity, profitability, and internal investments represented environmental-economic trade-offs. Synergies were found within the themes of human health and long-term productivity.
\n\n
We examined the effects of sustainable sourcing practices and developed suggestions for improvement. These include combining information measures with incentives, promoting good crop mangement for pesticide reduction, and strengthening the buyer-supplier relationships Two frameworks were developed and tested: one for buyer-supplier relationships within sustainable sourcing practices and another for general farm-level resilience assessments.
\n","bild":[],"textNachBild":"","optionen":[],"internerLink":[],"linkText":""}},{"component":"TextBild","data":{"id":1345,"title":"Implications for practice","slug":"bedeutung-fuer-die-praxis","link":"","textVorBild":"
Implications for practice
\n\n
Our findings and recommendations are mainly intended for our partners from the Swiss chocolate sector and to inform private sustainability governance along the cocoa and other global supply chains. However, the challenges they face: namely socio-economic challenges in producer communtities, insufficient adoption of good agricultural practices, and increasing legal requirements in consumer countries, are common in the cocoa sector. Therefore, the results and suggestions are also relevant to public stakeholders and institutions, and can support the establishment of effective interventions for supply chain sustainability.
\n","bild":[],"textNachBild":"","optionen":[],"internerLink":[],"linkText":""}},{"component":"Publikationen","data":{"id":1143,"title":"Publications","slug":"publikationen","link":"/en/dev/part-data/nachhaltigere-wertschoepfungsketten-elemente/publikationen","optionen":[],"altLink":"https://data.snf.ch/grants/grant/172451","altDatei":[],"project":135}},{"component":"PersonTeaser","data":{"id":549,"title":"Contact","slug":"kontakt","link":"/en/dev/part-data/nachhaltigere-wertschoepfungsketten-elemente/kontakt","person":{"id":502,"title":"Dr. Christian Schader","slug":"dr-christian-schader","link":"/en/people/dr-christian-schader","bild":{"id":95,"alt":false,"caption":false,"small":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/preview_6304f472a33f5.jpg","normal":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/normal_6304f472a33f5.jpg","large":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/retina_full_6304f472a33f5.jpg"},"name":"Dr. Christian Schader","email":"christian.schader@fibl.org","telefon":"+41 62 865 04 16","addresse":"
Ackerstrasse 113 \nPostfach 219 \n5070 Frick
\n","institut":"
Forschungsinstitut für biologischen Landbau (FiBL)
The research project has given us a detailed insight into the sustainability of our cocoa supply chain and enabled us to develop strategies to promote it further.
\n","author":"Florian Studer","institution":"Schöki","role":"Head of Idea"}}}}],"intro":"
We developed and applied methods for assessing the sustainability and resilience of cocoa supply chains and evaluated interventions for improvement in a transdisciplinary setting. Our results contribute to improving the sustainability and resilience of the global chains that supply the Swiss market.
\n"}]}},{"component":"MediaTeaser","data":{"id":709,"title":"Medien","slug":"medien","link":"/en/dev/part-data/lieferketten-elemente/medien","media":[{"id":1267,"title":"Podcast E7: Das öffentliche Beschaffungswesen kann die ökologische ...","slug":"podcast-e7-das-oeffentliche-beschaffungswesen-kann-die-oekologische","link":"https://open.spotify.com/episode/1ySIqjwTiIriNM0gFne7wr","bild":{"id":1151,"alt":false,"caption":false,"small":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/preview_63e23d846539d.jpg","normal":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/normal_63e23d846539d.jpg","large":"https://nfp73.b-cdn.net/public/images/gallery/retina_full_63e23d846539d.jpg"},"datum":"2023-02-06","type":"podcasts","parent":908}],"optionen":["parent"]}}]}},"pages":{"404":{"content":[{"component":"NotFound","data":{"id":-1}},{"component":"Footer","data":{"id":-2}}]}},"base":"https://nfp73.ch/api","beta":false,"locales":["de","en","fr"]};
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Portrait
Sustainable Cities and Communities
Industry, innovation and infrastructure
Life on land
Responsible consumption and production
Cities and Mobility
Building and Construction
Finance
Circular economy
Forest Management
Supply Chains
Agriculture and Nutrition
Governance
Sustainable Behaviour
Decarbonisation of the transport sector
Post-fossil cities
Co-evolution of business strategies and resource policies in the building industry
Ecological footprint in the housing sector
Financing clean tech
Sustainable finance
Laboratory for circular economy
Towards a sustainable circular economy
Challenges of modular water infrastructure systems
Resource efficiency in Swiss hospitals
Ecosystem services in forests
Trade‐offs in forests
Insurance value of forest ecosystems
Enhancing supply chain sustainability
Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP)
Open assessment of Swiss economy and society
Digital innovations for sustainable agriculture
Impacts of Swiss food consumption and trade
Interaction of economy and ecology in Swiss farms
Switzerland’s sustainability footprint
Sustainable Trade Relations for Diversified Food Systems
Green labour market effects
Voluntary corporate environmental initiatives
Legal framework for a resource-efficient circular economy
Nudging small and medium-sized companies
Rebound Effects of the Sharing Economy
Sustainable consumer behaviour
Extending the lifespan of mobile devices
The influence of environmental identities
Supply Chains
Sustainability in supply chains means assessing environmental, social and economic impacts as well as promoting good governance across the entire value chain of products and services. The per capita environmental impacts of Switzerland's global supply chains are the highest in the world.
To be able to improve the negative impacts of Switzerland's economic activities and public procurement, innovative approaches need to be developed. Approaches and new findings in this regard can be found in three research projects.
The Co-Creation Lab "Data Transparency for Sustainability" provides access to comprehensive data on Switzerland's global supply chains. This advances the state of the art in environmental and social life cycle analysis and provides a comprehensive overview of the Swiss consumption footprint.