Supply Chain

Brenntag North America truck

Safety and quality are key factors for success in the chemical industry.

They can only be ensured through the close cooperation of all parties along the supply and value chain. Issues such as occupational safety, environmental protection, labour practices, supplier management and compliance are therefore key topics for the industry. When choosing business partners and therefore making purchasing decisions, they are important criteria alongside aspects such as product quality, reliability of supply and price.

Within the scope of its membership of the “Together for Sustainability” industry initiative, Brenntag requires a number of its suppliers to undergo sustainability assessments every year. We thereby achieve greater transparency in relation to our suppliers’ sustainability performance and are able to better consider sustainability issues in our purchasing decisions. We work together with EcoVadis, as TfS does, which is a leading provider of sustainability assessments and is well established in the chemical industry.

"Together for Sustainability"

In the future, the risk component will be taken into account to an even greater extent.

After the introduction of new internal processes to control sustainability criteria for the Purchasing department in 2020, we will increase our focus on the sustainability performance of our suppliers in the future, including strategically. A risk assessment will be added to the existing procedure in order to better manage human rights and environmental risks in the supply chain in the future and to be compliant with the supply chain due diligence act. We aim to include and review all suppliers in an internal risk management system by 2025 at the latest. As part of our “Future Sustainable Brenntag” vision, we want to ensure that human rights are seamlessly upheld in our supply chain and living wages are paid.

Supply Chain NB2021 Seite59 EN

Coverage of total chemical spend in EUR with EcoVadis assessments (in %) in 2022

Further Information

Brenntag has been involved in the chemical industry’s “Together for Sustainability” initiative (TfS) since October 2014 and became a full member in October 2016 when we achieved EcoVadis gold status – the first and, to date, only chemical distributor to do so.

TfS's goal is to establish a uniform global programme for the responsible procurement of goods and services in the chemical industry, to achieve transparency in relation to sustainability performance throughout the supply chain and to make further improvements to its suppliers’ ecological and social standards. For this purpose, all TfS members regularly evaluate and review their suppliers by means of a standardized process. This information is shared confidentially and used jointly within the network, which provides efficiency benefits for every participant.

More about TSF

Download: Together for Sustainability

Within the scope of its membership of the “Together for Sustainability” industry initiative, Brenntag requires a defined number of its suppliers to undergo sustainability assessments every year. We thereby achieve greater transparency in relation to our suppliers’ sustainability performance and are able to better consider sustainability issues in our purchasing decisions.

Here, we work together with EcoVadis, a leading provider of sustainability assessments and well established in the chemical industry. EcoVadis evaluates companies in terms of four categories: environmental protection, labour practices, fair business practices and sustainable procurement. On the basis of the responses provided in a comprehensive online questionnaire and on the accompanying documentation, EcoVadis awards scoring points and produces a detailed profile of strengths and weaknesses. Brenntag reviews the findings and, based on its suppliers’ performance, requires them to make improvements or to undergo a supplementary audit.

Brenntag evaluates its suppliers’ assessment results. It found that suppliers which represent some 69% of our total chemical spend scored 45 points or higher. According to the EcoVadis assessment system, these companies have, as a minimum, a structured and proactive sustainability approach, policies and tangible actions in relation to the areas evaluated and a basic reporting system or set of performance indicators.

Brenntag drew up a code of conduct specifying what we expect of our suppliers in the areas of environmental protection and safety, labour and social standards as well as compliance and governance.

The code is based on the principles of the United Nations Global Compact, the chemical industry’s global Responsible Care programme and Brenntag’s Code of Business Conduct and Ethics.

In order to verify compliance with the code of conduct, we invite selected suppliers to undergo a sustainability assessment or audit.

Read more on our Compliance page.

As the global market leader in chemical distribution, Brenntag must adhere to all applicable foreign trade and customs laws and regulations in the countries where we operate. As such, our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics stipulates that our employees must observe all applicable restrictions on local and international foreign trade, e.g. restrictions on the importation and exportation of certain goods, services and technologies into or out of countries that are subject to sanctions or embargoes. The same applies to supplies to or from companies or persons that appear on sanction lists. Furthermore, Brenntag employees must adhere to applicable trade restrictions resulting from international embargoes that typically restrict or prohibit funds transfers or capital transfers to or from certain countries.

Brenntag also fulfils this obligation by using an automated, IT-based screening solution. This involves the use of special software to regularly check our customers and suppliers against the sanction lists of the United Nations, the European Union, the USA and various other countries where Brenntag operates. If there are grounds for suspicion, an examination is conducted and, if necessary, delivery does not occur and further measures are taken in coordination with the authorities.