Senate Looks to Green the Supply Chain

Improving supply chain efficiency is now a go-to best practice in corporate sustainability efforts.

Just look at Wal-Mart. Known for its super-efficient operations, the company saves thousands of dollars annually through its Supplier Energy Efficiency Program and earlier this year pledged to reduce supply chain greenhouse gas emissions by 20 million metric tons by 2015. Still, most companies lack either the capacity or the expertise to follow suit.

A bill considered in the Senate this week could provide both.

The Supply Star Act – S. 3396

On Tuesday, the Senate Energy Committee discussed the Supply Star Act (S. 3396), a bill that would create a new program in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to promote energy efficiency improvements throughout the supply chain, including savings from product sourcing, development, distribution, use and disposal.

Through a focus on knowledge sharing and collaboration, the "Supply Star" program would connect best practices from large and small businesses alike:

• Supply Star would provide tools and funding to companies making supply chain improvements and would collect best practices from experienced companies and share the findings with the broader industry.
• Supply Star would also develop standard metrics and processes for measuring supply chain efficiency, allowing entities to benchmark their efficiency against others and learn from the practices and products that conserve energy, water and other resources in the supply chain.

Political Prospects

Introduced by Senator Bingaman (D-N.M.) in May, the Supply Star Act has quickly garnered support in the Senate Energy Committee. At a hearing on June 15, DOE undersecretary Stephen Chalk endorsed the proposal with some small modifications, saying it would complement current programs at DOE.

Once the bill is approved by the Senate Energy Committee, the full Senate could take up Supply Star alongside the comprehensive Senate energy bill, the American Clean Energy Leadership Act, in the coming months.

The Alliance has fully endorsed (130 kB PDF) the Supply Star program and was pleased to be involved in the bill's development. In addition to our initial recommendations on the bill, we've advised the committee to consider including an amendment that focuses on the supply chain of the federal government. This would act as a proving ground for best practices to be implemented more broadly.