Trade Secrets

Driving sustainability goals through supply chain innovation, with Colgate-Palmolive’s Ann Tracy

Episode Summary

Supply chain innovation is now more important than ever to reach sustainability goals. In this episode of our Big Ideas in Supply Chain podcast, Ann Tracy, Chief Sustainability Officer at Colgate-Palmolive, speaks with Dr. Anne Robinson, Chief Strategy Officer at Kinaxis, to discuss Colgate-Palmolive’s bold approach to sustainable practices including environmentally conscious product designs, plastic reduction, and making smart use of finite resources.

Episode Notes

Sustainability is a topic at the forefront of every stakeholder, company, and consumer’s mind. As regulatory practices become stricter and companies strive to hit their ESG sustainability targets, driving supply chain innovation is now more important than ever. In the latest Big Ideas in Supply Chain podcast, Ann Tracy, Chief Sustainability Officer at Colgate-Palmolive, speaks with Dr. Anne Robinson, Chief Strategy Officer at Kinaxis, to discuss Colgate-Palmolive’s bold approach to reducing environmental impacts and improving social and climate justice. 

• Ann says she doesn’t see how companies can move forward and achieve sustainability without supply chain innovation. Organizations need to be ready and willing to tackle sustainability at Scope One, Two, and Three because carbon emissions and social impact exist at every step of the supply chain. [5:34]
• Colgate-Palmolive has three ambition pillars to help them tackle sustainability: driving social impact, helping millions of homes, and preserving the environment. Their flagship program, Bright Smiles, Bright Futures, brings oral health and hygiene to children globally and they’re constantly designing more sustainable products. [8:19]
• Smaller organizations that want to become more sustainable should begin by doing a materiality assessment and mapping out what’s important and relevant for stakeholders and what’s important for their business to determine which priorities should be tackled first. Ann states that one approach is to adopt environmentally conscious behaviors across operations that can save money. For example, more efficient boilers, heat exchangers, and other equipment of that nature are more sustainable and can even reduce the amount of water or heat used. [15:12]

To learn more about the speakers and follow them, see below:

Ann Tracy, Chief Sustainability Officer, Colgate-Palmolive

• LinkedIn handle: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ann-tracy-35648711

Dr. Anne Robinson, Chief Strategy Officer, Kinaxis

• LinkedIn handle: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anne-robinson-449225/
• Twitter handle: @agrobins