TfS Initiative
As pressure on natural resources increases and issues of social justice are becoming more visible, companies are expected by stakeholders to promote sustainability not only within their own operations, but also with their suppliers. Large companies such as ICL, which interact with thousands of suppliers around the world, are expected to engage suppliers on all sustainability issues and to include sustainability considerations as part of their procurement decisions.
Together for Sustainability (TfS) is a joint initiative of 23 global chemical companies founded in 2011. Its goal is to drive and foster resilience, efficiency, and sustainability of global supply chains in the chemical industry. It has developed and implemented a global program to assess, audit and improve sustainability practices within the supply chains of the chemical industry. With thousands of suppliers assessed and audited through the TFS initiative, and many of them showing improvement over time, TfS member companies are effectively promoting a better world. Read More general details on the TFS initiative in their web-site.
Through the TfS initiative, ICL will engage approximately 450 key suppliers in 2019, requesting that they complete sustainability assessments and/or audits.
The challenge of the TFS program is to engage the supply chain in a way that will be both efficient as well as beneficial to suppliers. The TfS sustainability assessments and audits are conducted with known criteria and are shared across TfS members. TFS Assessments are conducted through Ecovadis- a global leader in the ranking sustainable practices of suppliers (see more below). A supplier will go through a sustainability assessment once (to be renewed once every three years) and it’s score and detailed assessment is then added to the TfS suppliers database, shared with all member companies. This enables other members of the TfS initiative to become aware of new suppliers that have been assessed. The shared supplier pool also allows the suppliers have more exposure for potential buyers.
As part of the TfS initiative, ICL approached suppliers that account for over 1 billion USD in annual spending, or approx. 28% of the total amount that ICL spent in 2018.
Implementing the TfS initiative in ICL
As a member of TfS, ICL is highly engaged and has committed significant resources in order to be implement the plan successfully and meet the set-KPIs expected of all members. These efforts are led by ICL’s global procurement organization (GPO).
The first stage of implementation included a mapping of the company’s key suppliers to be focused on in the first year of membership (either in terms of spend or the supplier’s importance to the company’s production process). In each region – Israel, Europe, North America, South America and China- a regional GPO representative was appointed to oversee local implementation. Dozens of procurement employees in several ICL regions then underwent training sessions regarding sustainable procurement, the TfS initiative and how to engage suppliers. The ICL GPO then developed an internal process for engaging and tracking suppliers and their responses to the company’s requests to undergo assessments as well as audits. The company has also formed engagement procedures for cases where suppliers decline to participate- and these have already resulted in eventual participation in some cases. A monthly report is circulated to management and to all involved GPO employees to create a clear picture of any major gaps in meeting established goals.
ICL has set targets for the first full year of membership (see below). Progress against these goals will be communicated in next year’s report.
ICL’s targets for 2019 are: to add 80 new suppliers to TfS assessment public pool and to add 10 new suppliers to TfS audit pool.
ICL’s EcoVadis Score
As ICL and other TfS members must abide by identical standards as expected from supplier, ICL has competed its first global Ecovadis assessment in 2018. ICL ranked among the top 7% of scores among 33,000 global ranked suppliers for its 2018 assessment. ICL received a score of 60/100 - a silver ranking - just under a gold ranking (>62). See our score summary here. EcoVadis is considered a global leader in ranking sustainable practices of suppliers.
