Lise Hordijk - Sustainability Manager Bugaboo

Together with Bugaboo’s buyers, Lise is making every effort to reduce the company’s social and ecological impact. The biggest difference stands to be made with the procurement of production materials. So Bugaboo has high standards for this process when it comes to quality, sustainability and working conditions. Suppliers must continue to challenge themselves. You won’t succeed without that drive for innovation and sustainability.

Why is sustainability important for Bugaboo?

The qualitative and social production aspects have always been important. In recent years, the focus has shifted to ecology because we can now see even more clearly around us the impact we have on the world. That’s why the product designer opts for materials with the lowest possible impact, and the buyer looks for the most sustainable supplier.

As a buyer, how do you select the most sustainable suppliers?

The buyer enters into a dialogue with suppliers based on the designer’s overview of materials and our sustainability checklist. This checklist is based on the Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Compact and the guidelines from the Higg Index. We review the quality of the materials and examine issues such as working conditions, energy consumption and options, waste processing, water consumption, CO2 emissions and so forth. The conversation goes beyond questions about roof-based solar panels. We really want to know how the materials are developed and how the company will produce increasingly sustainable materials. This provides an impression of the company’s vision and their drive for innovation and sustainability, but it also arms us with input to take back to the designers who, for example, may not yet be familiar with a new type of material.

We’ve calculated the footprint of all our products and materials using the Delft University of Technology’s online database Eco Costs Value. Our focus is mainly on material suppliers with the highest footprint, because that’s where the greatest chance lies for achieving. environmental gains through innovation. Fortunately, we see that suppliers who have premium materials are typically also the most sustainable and that the rest of the suppliers are receptive to our questions.

To optimise the procurement process, buyers incorporate environmental impact data from areas such as logistics and (reusable) packaging into the life cycle analysis previously carried out by the designer and product developer for a particular product. We do not purchase materials based on price alone; instead we try to strike a balance between price, quality and sustainability.

Does the approach differ between office and production procurement?

For both types of procurement, we opt for long-term collaboration and the lowest possible footprint. We can make the biggest difference in production procurement because of the higher volumes, the higher footprint of the materials we purchase and because suppliers in non-Western countries can often improve even more than those in the Netherlands, for example. We know that the working conditions here are in order, whereas forced labour still exists in China, where environmental requirements are less stringent. We believe we’re responsible for the impact we make elsewhere in the world.

““The conversation goes beyond questions about roof-based solar panels.””

For our office procurement, we request CO2 reports and include a sustainability clause in contracts for the entire chain in which we set out what we, as a company, value with regard to sustainability. This applies whether we’re purchasing fruit for our office or selecting logistics partners. As a buyer, you’re tasked with translating the company’s strategy into practical purchasing conditions. We are still figuring out the kind of company we want to be and how far we’re willing and able to go. On a practical level, that makes it difficult for us to set priorities. Due to changes in management, it has sometimes been difficult to prioritise sustainability projects. We’re currently sharpening our sustainability strategy so that we have the right focus and direction.

The Green House Gas Protocol gives us insight into the amount of CO2 our company emits. At present, we’re working with the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) on other numerical reduction targets. These targets are also being transferred to the procurement process. Our largest footprint happens to be in our scope 3 — value chain emissions — where significant reduction can be achieved through procurement.

How can you be sure that a supplier is actually sustainable?

We have two local teams, for product quality and supplier quality, that verify the supplier’s sustainability through telephone conversations or on-site audits. And these teams do this for our factory in China as well as for our suppliers. Should the supplier not meet the requirements — we had a case where employees’ passports were confiscated and staff were being forced to work overtime — we enter into discussions, make agreements on improvements and pay multiple visits for monitoring purposes in the short term. The ultimate consequence would be to terminate the cooperation.

Sometimes, you may have to adapt your product. We were very eager to work with a recycled polyester and had a supplier who scored well on all points. Unfortunately, the quality of the raw material proved inadequate, and a lot of the polyester that had already entered the production phase ended up as waste. So, even with the best of intentions, you might have to source another supplier or use a different raw material, depending on the nature of the problem.

You use the Higg Index to measure the sustainability of the suppliers. How does that work?

““We opt for long-term collaborations and the lowest possible footprint.””

To continuously monitor ourselves and our suppliers, we use an audit platform. Since 2017, Bugaboo has been a member of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, whose participants aim to measure and improve the social and environmental aspects of their company. We also use the Higg Index, the audit platform developed by the Sustainable Apparel Coalition. In particular, we use the Facilities Environmental Module and the Facilities Social & Labour Module. Along with our suppliers, we’re asked to supply data on such aspects as our waste management and energy consumption, but also on our working hours and safety provisions. The data are subsequently verified by an independent third party, such as TÜV Nederland or SGS. We use the data to identify and capitalise on opportunities to make improvements. At our own factory, we discovered that we need to collect better data and set better targets to achieve more sustainable water consumption. Our suppliers will soon be audited, and then we’ll be able to use the verified data to make more improvements there as well.

Have did you choose an audit platform?

There are numerous existing initiatives and certifications, so it’s important to take the time to research which tool provides the information your organisation can use to improve and not just obtain certification. We began by looking for a platform that would make our entire supply chain transparent. In doing so, we take responsibility for more than just making our own suppliers more sustainable.

““It’s important to take the time to research which tool provides the information your organisation can use to improve and not just obtain certification.”
”

We were unable to find a suitable platform in our own sector, which prompted us to look within the textile sector. However, platforms such as Blue Sign, Fair Wear Foundation, the Bangladesh Accord and Roadmap to Zero were too specific for our objectives. The Higg Index of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition proved widely applicable, including for our suppliers that are not part of the textile industry. The organisation behind the index is undergoing considerable development, actively sharing knowledge with all its members about things like the EU’s ‘The Green Deal’ as well as new legislation and regulations, and generally keeping us on our toes.

We joined the coalition in 2017 after having completed a full year of research. We perform an annual self-assessment and, now that we’ve gathered data for several years, we can finally implement improvements

Why is a long-term relationship with suppliers important for sustainability?

Because change takes time. You can achieve far more as a company by entering into long-term partnerships, which make it valuable to dialogue about adjustments that will make the process more sustainable. For instance, after consulting with a supplier, we replaced the disposable packaging for our parts with reusable crates. That saves a mountain of plastic. Moreover, long-term relationships also foster trust and increase transparency. That’s important when you want to monitor sustainability by, for example, using an audit platform and requesting data from your suppliers, like we do with the Higg Index.

My tips to colleagues?

For inspiration and guidance, I recommend visiting the websites of the UN Global Impact, the Science Based Targets Initiative and the Green House Gas Protocol.