Within our supply chain, we aim to balance value delivery and
operational excellence with procuring from suppliers that share our
commitment to social responsibility, ethical conduct, and
environmental stewardship.
Our approach
Our ‘Sustainable Development in the Anglo American Supply Chain Policy’ and our ‘Supplier Sustainable Development Code’ were published in 2008 and provide detailed guidance on our expectations of our suppliers. These documents are available in English, Spanish, Portuguese and Mandarin and you can download them from our Policies, standards and commitments section.
Our vision is for our suppliers to embrace the same standards we expect of ourselves. The policy and code are based on our Good Citizenship Business Principles and require that suppliers:
- Work in safe and healthy ways
- Demonstrate good labour practices
- Engage in high standards of environmental management
- Be ethical
- Address key challenges such as HIV/AIDS and poverty
- Seek alignment with relevant Anglo American policies and procedures
Integrating sustainable development
During 2009, we continued to embed sustainable development in our supply chain processes. Our supplier qualification questionnaire contains sustainable development questions and appropriate steps are incorporated in the strategic sourcing methodology.
We trained 200 supply chain employees throughout our company on sustainable development within the supply chain. These individuals now understand the importance of a sustainable supply chain and how to work with our suppliers to make sustainable development a priority.
Improving performance
Based on a strategic risk-based approach, we identified categories that need to fall into a matrix of engagement opportunities, including those categories that should be audited. We have conducted many supplier sustainable development audits. To ensure consistency in supplier audits, we developed a non-conformance and improvement guideline during the year. The audits provided a basis for the supplier improvement plans and, as such, several improvement plans have been agreed and work is progressing on others. These improvement plans have had positive results for more than 30,000 supplier employees; some examples include the installation of fire alarms and improved handling and storage of hazardous chemicals. Encouragingly, suppliers consistently demonstrate transparency, cooperation and a willingness to improve their workplace conditions.
Looking ahead
Fundamental to the success of our supply chain sustainable development programme is ensuring a positive impact. We will therefore be looking to strike a balance between expanding the coverage of our audit programme and maintaining focus on monitoring the implementation of improvement plans with those already audited.
Furthermore, the global category teams will continue to integrate sustainable development into their supplier engagement processes and decisions; and we will begin rolling out sustainable development considerations in tenders across our business units. This will effectively expand our approach to include not only our strategic categories, but also purchasing within the business units.
Supplier Sustainable Development Questionnaire
If you have been asked to take part in the Supply Chain Sustainable Development self-assessment audit process, log in to complete the Sustainable Development Questionnaire.