Both Peters and Fisher outlined some steps that can help move companies toward driving meaningful results in reducing supply chain emissions.

Dive into your data. It’s the first step in understanding and managing emissions. This includes data on procurement orders, suppliers, and details on all product components and raw materials.

“Companies already have a wealth of data on their suppliers and their products at their disposal,” said Fisher. “They can start by leveraging existing data to jumpstart their emissions management and integrate it into their day-to-day operations.”

Look at the big picture. An effective strategy must scale across the entire organization. Fisher said this involves evaluating the entire procurement portfolio and full product line to start making systemic changes that not only reduce your emissions but can improve operational efficiencies across manufacturing, processing, and transportation decisions.

Collaborate with internal stakeholders. Part of leveraging critical data on suppliers and their emissions portfolios, for example, is making sure that all the relevant parties are sharing it so that the business can have a coordinated approach.

“It’s important to take data-gathering on suppliers out of a silo and bring it into a centralized and standardized process to avoid inundating these suppliers with questions from different angles, which is why I think bringing this into procurement management is a great and important step,” Peters said. “This brings efficiency and allows for another aspect of a proactive program: the ongoing monitoring and assessment of carbon emissions.”