ChainPoint blog

ChainPoint's customer Tony's Chocolonely announced a partnership with Albert Heijn, the largest supermarket chain in the Netherlands, and Barry Callebaut, the largest chocolate manufacturer in the world. Albert Heijn will be the first partner to source cocoa beans based on Tony Chocolonely’s five sourcing principles. 

There are many technical functionalities that can help improve sustainability in cosmetics supply chains such as audit management, supplier assessment or certification management, but there are two functions that stand out and are universally applicable to any supply chain. Traceability and supply chain mapping, although comparatively more difficult to implement, actually yield the most benefits.

In February 2017 the French government passed the Duty of Vigilance Law, known in France by its full name “Devoir de vigilance des entreprises donneuses d'ordre”. The law requires large companies to assess and reduce human rights infringements and environmental risks in their supply chains. One year later, French companies published their first vigilance plans as part of their financial statements.

In order to create and maintain a responsible and sustainable supply chain, auditing is vital to make sure that the criteria for sustainability and quality standards are being met. However, we often hear that the auditing is not capable of driving change in the supply chain since audits represent a snapshot of a given point in time.

In every supply chain there are risks, either related to the supply chain itself or the product and ingredients that travel through the supply chain. Food safety, for example, is a concern not only in the food industry but also in industries such as animal feed. Contaminated feed entering the food supply chain caused the 1999 Dioxin crisis with huge impact on companies and empty shelves in supermarkets.

ChainPoint will attend Textile Exchange's 2018 Textile Sustainability Conference in Milan on October 22-24. ChainPoint's Johan Zandbergen and Alexander Ellebrecht will both give presentations in the latest developments in the textile industry and the role of technology. 

When companies want to satisfy the expectations of retailers and consumers, it's absolutely vital that the criteria for sustainability and quality standards are being met. Therefore, regular audits are needed at every relevant level in the supply chain. There are three common challenges within this audit process. 

This year, ChainPoint will attend E-scrap, the conference for leading experts in the field of electronics recycling. The conference is taking place in New Orleans, on 9-11 October. 

Since it’s introduction in 2013, the European Union Timber Regulation (EUTR) gains more and more traction. The timber regulation is being enforced every day and we see that wood companies who don’t comply to the regulation are being held responsible and fined.

ChainPoint is proud to be a sponsor of the Bio-Gründer competition, where innovative ideas by new entrepreneurs will get a significant boost. On September 18^th, the Bio-Gründer competition will announce its winners in Bönen, Germany.