Ethical Corporation, the leading business intelligence company for sustainability, today announced that 30 foremost FMCG, retail, apparel, electronics, construction and pharmaceutical companies will meet at a two day summit this October to discuss cost effective ways to embed responsible sourcing in corporate decision making.

"˜There is no way that businesses can sustain themselves for the next 20, 30, 40 years if they don't change the way they operate' says Pier Luigi Sigismondi, Unilever's Chief Supply Chain Officer, on the importance of managing supply chains in a socially and environmentally responsible way.

The risks associated with an unsustainable supply chain have never been clearer - One only has to look at the latest Bangladesh factory fires and their impacts on human lives; or the recent horsemeat scandals, calling for better disclosure processes.

But for those pushing their company to source responsibly, and spreading their environmental and social standards down their supply chain, the rewards are huge.

For instance: BT's close work with their suppliers in the past 16 years has helped reduce their carbon emissions by 80% and saved them £33m. New Look's "˜Factory Improvement Programme' has already helped the company's factories to increase productivity, limit absenteeism, and turnover.

Ethical Corporation's summit will focus on a variety of CSR issues in managing global value chains across a range of industries and commodity groups.

It will tackle ways to commercialise sustainability in supply chains, going beyond Tier 1 suppliers, building Human Rights programs into the supply chain, engaging buyers and procurement teams in sustainability and reducing the environmental footprint of supply chain operations and more.

Companies speaking at the event include:

*Sainsbury's* *Unilever* *Coca Cola Enterprises* *McDonalds* *Inditex* *Skanska* *Telefonica* *IKEA* *Blackberry* *Deutsche Telekom* *L'Oreal* *Fairtrade Foundation* *New Look* * GeSI* *ASDA* *Marks & Spencer* *Marshalls* *AkzoNobel* *Rainforest Alliance* *Mitsubishi Electric* *BT* *Novartis* *Divine Chocolate* * Oxfam* *Neal's Yard Remedies* *CDP * *Alcatel-Lucent* *UN Global Compact UK Network* *Ethical Trading Initiative*

To have a full run down of the conference, please visit the 8th annual Sustainable Supply Chain Summit.

Contact information:

Elina Yumasheva

elina.yumasheva@ethicalcorp.com 

+44(0) 20 7375 7573

http://events.ethicalcorp.com/supplychain

SupplyChainBrain has negotiated a special discount for all its subscribers. Quote "˜SCB15' when registering to get 15% off from the current rate on corporate and service provider passes, not applicable for the NGO/ academic passes.