6 Ways to Encourage Suppliers to Take Sustainability Seriously
The reason most procurement leaders struggle with supplier sustainability is because they approach it as a compliance issue rather than a strategic opportunity.
This happens because most procurement teams are focused on immediate costs and deliverables rather than long-term value creation. When sustainability becomes just another checkbox, suppliers treat it as an unwelcome burden rather than a chance to innovate and differentiate. This leads to minimal compliance, missed opportunities, and ultimately, a supply chain that fails to meet evolving market demands.
But there’s a better approach that transforms sustainability from obligation to opportunity.
Which is why today, we’re exploring six proven strategies to get suppliers genuinely invested in sustainability initiatives.
We’re going to walk you through:
- Establishing sustainability as a “license to play”
- Leveraging market trends to create competitive pressure
- Connecting sustainability to value creation and competitive advantage
- Appealing to purpose and legacy
- Emphasising talent attraction and retention benefits
- Emphasising sustainability as an innovation catalyst
By mastering these strategies, you’ll transform resistant suppliers into sustainability champions, strengthen your supply chain resilience, and create competitive advantages through innovation. Instead of fighting an uphill battle, you’ll build collaborative partnerships that deliver environmental, social, and business value – ultimately positioning your company as a leader in the increasingly sustainability-focused marketplace.
Let’s dive into the first critical strategy that sets the foundation for everything else.
1. Establish Sustainability as a License to Play
Sustainability requirements are no longer optional but essential criteria for supplier selection and retention.
When sustainability becomes a fundamental qualification rather than a “nice-to-have,” it transforms the entire supplier relationship. By establishing clear, non-negotiable sustainability standards that every supplier must meet to do business with you, you signal that this isn’t just about checking boxes—it’s about aligning core values. The most effective approach is a tiered system that establishes minimum requirements while creating pathways for continuous improvement and recognising sustainability leaders. This creates both a floor (preventing environmental and social harm) and a ceiling (encouraging ongoing innovation) within your supplier network.
Clear standards with real consequences drive meaningful change across your supply chain. When suppliers understand that sustainability performance directly impacts their business relationship with you, they’re more likely to invest in necessary improvements rather than seeking shortcuts.
2. Highlight Market Trends and Competitive Pressure
Forty percent of large companies plan to switch suppliers due to sustainability commitments (OP Survey of large corporations 2025), creating both risk and opportunity for suppliers.
This statistic isn’t just a theoretical concern, it represents a fundamental shift in how procurement decisions are being made across industries. When meeting with suppliers, share concrete examples of how their competitors are gaining or losing business based on sustainability performance. Frame sustainability not as your company’s unique demand but as an industry-wide movement that will determine which suppliers thrive in the coming years. The most effective approach combines data (market reports, competitor announcements) with specific examples of how sustainability performance is influencing your own company’s purchasing decisions across multiple categories.
Suppliers respond to market forces much more powerfully than to isolated customer requests. By helping them see sustainability as a competitive necessity rather than your personal preference, you transform their perspective from “compliance burden” to “business opportunity.”
3. Connect Sustainability to Value Creation and Competitive Advantage
Sustainability initiatives can directly enhance product value and justify premium pricing in the marketplace.
The most compelling sustainability initiatives aren’t just about doing less harm — they create new forms of value that benefit both your company and your suppliers. Rather than focusing exclusively on cost reduction (using less energy, generating less waste), work with suppliers to identify how sustainable practices can enhance product performance, open new markets, or create premium positioning. The key is moving beyond generic sustainability claims to develop specific, measurable, and marketable advantages that your suppliers can leverage with all their customers. This might involve developing proprietary sustainable materials, creating industry-first certifications, or building unique story-telling opportunities around environmental or social impact.
When suppliers see sustainability as a pathway to competitive differentiation and higher margins, their motivation transcends compliance. Their sustainability investments become strategic rather than reluctant, creating a virtuous cycle of continuous improvement.
4. Appeal to Purpose and Legacy
Ask suppliers: “Do you want to leave the world a better place than you found it?”
This simple question shifts the conversation from quarterly metrics to generational impact, tapping into the fundamental human desire to create a positive legacy. While procurement discussions typically focus on specifications and costs, the most transformative supplier relationships emerge when leaders connect around shared purpose and values. Create intentional opportunities – whether in formal business reviews or informal conversations – to discuss the broader impact of your shared work. The most forward-thinking companies are finding ways to document and celebrate these purpose-driven commitments, whether through case studies, sustainability reports, or joint community initiatives that showcase the partnership’s positive impact.
Purpose-driven sustainability initiatives generate deeper commitment that persists through inevitable implementation challenges. When suppliers are motivated by values alignment rather than just contract requirements, they become partners in problem-solving rather than reluctant participants.
5. Emphasise Talent Attraction and Retention Benefits
Companies with strong sustainability practices attract and retain better talent, creating operational advantages.
In today’s competitive labour market, sustainability has become a significant factor in employment decisions, particularly among younger workers with specialised skills. Help your suppliers understand how their sustainability initiatives can become powerful recruiting and retention tools by sharing research on employee preferences and concrete examples of how your own company’s sustainability commitments have strengthened your workforce. Offer to connect their HR and marketing teams with resources for effectively communicating sustainability initiatives to potential employees.
Better talent leads to higher quality, innovation, and productivity – creating a win-win situation where suppliers’ sustainability investments strengthen their core business. This workforce advantage ultimately benefits your supply chain through improved performance and stronger partnerships.
6. Emphasise Sustainability as an Innovation Catalyst
Sustainability challenges drive creative problem-solving that produces valuable innovations beyond environmental benefits.
When approached strategically, sustainability constraints become powerful innovation drivers rather than limitations. The necessity to reduce environmental impact often forces engineers, designers, and business leaders to question fundamental assumptions about materials, processes, and business models – leading to breakthroughs that might never emerge from traditional development pathways.
The most effective approach is creating structured innovation challenges focused on specific sustainability problems, complete with rewards, recognition, and clear pathways to implementation for winning ideas. These might take the form of supplier innovation days, joint R&D initiatives, or formal challenge programs with financial incentives for breakthrough solutions.
Sustainability-driven innovation creates business advantages that extend far beyond environmental benefits. By emphasising that sustainability is an innovation accelerator rather than a compliance burden, you transform how suppliers perceive and approach environmental initiatives.
By implementing these six strategies, you’ll transform your supplier relationships from transactional to transformational, creating a supply chain that delivers both business and environmental value.
PS. Sustainability is big part of the supplier experience. But it is not the only one. There are five more lenses on top of sustainability, that are used to analyse supplier experience.
In the book Supplier Experience – The Fundamentals of Modern Supplier Collaboration we cover all the six lenses through which to analyse supplier experience.
So, if you are ready to strengthen your supplier collaboration to ensure mutual success, click this link to grab a free copy of the book: https://supplier-experience.com/supplier-experience-ebook/
