Euromoney giver udtryk for, at reverse factoring, tidligere kendt som bæredygtig supply chain-finansiering, er et af de produkter, der i øjeblikket skaber mest interesse blandt både banker og deres erhvervskunder.
Omkring dette fænomen siger Heather Crowley, Global Chef for SCF, at: “We are seeing a major drive from clients towards defining their CSR [corporate social responsibility] metrics and then looking at how those key themes can be aligned with their supply chain, which is translating into broad demand for sustainable SCF programmes”.
En bæredygtig komponent introduceres ved at tilbyde økonomiske incitamenter til leverandører, der opfylder visse miljømæssige eller sociale standarder. Formålet med dette er at sikre en form for samhørighed virksomheden og leverandørerne imellem. Hertil tilføjer ECOVADIS, at “When you add a sustainability dimension, you are further complicating the picture. You have to define sustainability objectives for the suppliers that are meaningful, that you can explain and that will align with the objectives of the buyer over the medium to long term”.
Dette kan spores tilbage til 2016 hvor Puma introducerede et banebrydende fænomen, hvoraf de tilbød lavere finansielle omkostninger til leverandører med en høj bæredygtighedsscore, skriver Euromoney. Hertil siger Wim Peeters fra EcoVadis, at:
“These are the big players, so the fact that they are doing this has been a wake-up call for the rest of the market,” he says.
Det er dog ikke helt nemt at få dette ført igennem, som Euromoney skriver i en ny artikel:
“Another big hurdle is the difficulty of sourcing sustainability data, particularly from the smaller firms in emerging markets that make up a large part of many multinational companies’ supply chains.
Bridgestone has addressed this by tapping EcoVadis to provide sustainability assessments of its suppliers. Similarly, several firms are reportedly looking to work with CDP, a leader in environmental disclosure, on supply-chain finance programmes.
Other mooted solutions involve innovative uses of technology. In 2019, CISL coordinated a pilot programme, dubbed Project Trado, which saw J Sainsbury and Unilever team up with BNP Paribas to offer preferential supply-chain finance pricing to tea producers in Malawi in return for the provision of sustainability data through blockchain-based platform Halotrade.
Even with such solutions, verification remains an issue for many corporates – a situation that has been exacerbated in an era of Covid-related travel restrictions.
‘This is one of the biggest challenges,” says a trade finance banker. “It is why, even though we’ve been having a lot of conversations with clients about sustainable supply-chain finance over the past 24 months, actually getting something live and making it work has been and continues to be a problem.’”
Læs hele artiklen, og EcoVadis tilføjelse, her:
https://resources.ecovadis.com/news-press/the-challenge-of-sustainable-supply-chain-finance
