The M&S Food team recognised that while they have been identifying and managing environmental and human rights risks in their supply chain, this had been a more reactive approach. They wanted to ensure that they are focusing their resources in the most important places, and to do this, needed a complete picture of the environmental and human rights risks throughout their value chain.
M&S sought Sancroft’s support in assessing the current environmental risks associated with their top commodities purchased globally, and in articulating this work so that results could be combined with a separate human rights workstream for additional and deeper insights.
The Sancroft team utilised global risk frameworks and scoring mechanisms to identify the relevant environmental risks. Once the risks had been identified we researched and selected the most appropriate data sources that provided up-to-date information on the environmental risks. We then developed a comprehensive methodology, incorporating data sources, to assign a risk score for each country and commodity.
The environmental risk scores were combined with the human rights risk scores to provide M&S with a comprehensive understanding of risk hot spots in their supply chains.
The risk assessment delivered greater clarity to M&S regarding the risks associated with their key raw materials. This assessment allowed M&S Foods to gain insight into their exposure to these risks and identify potential gaps in their existing mitigation measures. As a result, M&S is able to allocate resources efficiently, focusing on areas that would have the highest impact on their business, the environment and people.
Overall, this comprehensive assessment enabled the M&S team to proactively manage and mitigate risks, which will contribute to the resilience of the business.
