Governance
Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM)
Westpac recognises that our social, ethical and environmental impacts reside as much in our supply chain as in our own activities.
In our supply chain we ensure that:
- Our suppliers are aware of the specific environmental, social and ethical issues, risks and opportunities relevant to their operations and products
- Our suppliers operate to internationally recognised standards of practice
- Our higher spend and risk suppliers have management systems in place to address associated issues, risks and opportunities
- These systems deliver effective performance management and improvement.
We validate - or confirm the practices of - our suppliers by:
- Setting out the minimum standards we require of suppliers (our SSCM Code of Conduct) and requiring suppliers to provide a written Certificate of Compliance with these standards
- Asking our high spend and higher risk suppliers specific questions about their policies, practices, reports and targets (the SSCM Questionnaire) which they must answer in writing
- Requiring suppliers to give a contractual undertaking that their responses to these questions are true and correct, and that they will advise Westpac of material changes to their sustainability performance
- Requiring evidence of change, when a supplier amends a statement of their sustainability performance - either by meeting additional requirements of the SSCM Code of Conduct or changing an answer to the SSCM Questionnaire.
- Requiring evidence of how an action has been met - if a supplier has agreed to a continuous improvement action (in a Remedial or Sustainability Action Plan)
- Annually selecting, at random, suppliers to participate in an audit on their SSCM performance. Audits may be 'desk-top' (with copies of reports or policies provided to Westpac) or improvement focused, involving an independent auditor paid by Westpac.
Contact us
The Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) Policy and process was developed in collaborative workshops between Westpac, a variety of suppliers, sustainability experts and several NGOs.
The quality of its process and support materials is continually being improved by feedback from these stakeholders. Any suggestions or recommendations for improvement can be sent by email to the SSCM team.
