We aim to work with suppliers who share our values, and we expect high standards of business conduct from those who represent us or do business with us. Due to the nature of our business, we are predominantly a consumer of services, and not products or raw materials. Compared with other industry sectors such as manufacturing, the risks associated with the environmental, social and governance impact of Zurich's supply chain are low.
Nonetheless, we are committed to effectively managing such issues within our supply chain. We are continually working to improve processes and guidelines for managing sustainability issues in the supply chain and have established a Sustainable Sourcing program in order to establish the necessary governance and allocate the required resources to our efforts.
Our Sustainable Sourcing program has three core pillars that address environmental, social and ethical factors. The key objective of the program is to embed these factors throughout the sourcing lifecycle.
For some time, we have been considering environmental, social and ethical factors using evaluation criteria to assess the goods and services we buy. We have also been ensuring that relevant sustainability clauses are included in contracts with suppliers, such as ethical conduct and labor, health and safety and environmental standards.
With the launch of our Supplier Code of Conduct in June , we set out clear environmental, social and ethical expectations for our suppliers, globally. Our expectations are based upon practices that we have already adopted within our own operations. By establishing the Supplier Code of Conduct we aim to use our influence as a significant buyer of goods and services, as a force for good, accelerating the global adoption of sustainable business practices amongst our suppliers.
