Responsibility in supply

Our ultimate goal is to ensure that our purchasing decisions preserve and safeguard the environment and stimulate the development and well-being of the communities from which we source.

Securing the supply of high quality natural raw materials now and into the future, without compromising the environment, the livelihoods of producers, or the security of supply is business critical.

The scale of our raw material requirements has enabled us to develop a deep knowledge of sourcing responsibly from small suppliers in remote rural locations. For example, we source specialist ingredients, like benzoin and tonka beans, which are concentrated in less developed countries such as Madagascar, Venezuela and Laos.

In 2011 we expanded our vanilla ethical sourcing programme in Madagascar and became a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). We are also fully compliant with CA Bill S. 657 on child labour which came into force on 1 January 2012.

Our Givaudan manufacturing sites participate in the Supplier Ethical Data Exchange (SEDEX) and we continue to invite our suppliers to join. We aim to have 200 of our top 400 suppliers join by the end of 2015.

Following the 2010 communication of our Global Vendor Expectations document to notify raw material suppliers of the need to comply with the principles of the United Nations Global Compact, auditing of our suppliers is a core area of focus for us.

More information about the way we source our raw materials can be found in our 2011 Sustainability Report.