Proactive engagement
HP started our supply chain social and environmental responsibility (SER) program to make a real and lasting difference to the way our suppliers operate. Our training and development programs aim to instill practices that will prevent SER violations in the long term. These require a sustained effort, and we accept that challenge willingly.
Our audit program sometimes reveals compliance issues at our suppliers. We investigate these thoroughly and formulate remedial actions. When solutions require industrywide collaboration, HP is proactive in facilitating agreement and action among a wide range of organizations.
This section gives examples of how HP’s proactive engagement around the world addresses concerns related to:
- Labor (labor disputes, labor migration, grievance processes and excessive working hours across China and the rest of Asia Pacific)
- Health and safety (emergency preparedness in China and women’s reproductive health in Latin America)
- Environment (strengthening policies, promoting environmentally preferable materials, and reducing the impact of product manufacturing)
- Human rights in minerals mining in Central Africa
Industry collaboration
A consistent message from multiple customers has a bigger impact on suppliers. This can come from collaboration within one industry or from partnerships across industries. Participants benefit by sharing knowledge and resources, standardizing tools and processes, avoiding duplication, and developing consistent approaches.
Electronics industry collaboration
Two of the most significant supply chain partnerships are organized by the
Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition 
(EICC) and the
Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) . The EICC and GeSI are developing tools to monitor and
improve supply chain SER performance across the ICT sector. HP has contributed significant resources and leadership to both initiatives since 2005.
See Supplier guidance for more on the EICC.
We also contribute to specific EICC initiatives. We co-led the development of a carbon emissions reporting framework for suppliers and led the EICC Validated (shared) Audit Process. HP also contributed to training tools for procurement managers and efforts to understand the electronics industry’s supply of metals. See Human rights for more information.
In May 2009, HP joined representatives from civil society organizations and other EICC and GeSI members at a roundtable in Amsterdam to share information and expertise about the industry’s supply chain. Organized by electronics industry pressure groups makeITfair and Good Electronics, the event aimed to help participants develop common strategies to bring about lasting improvements in labor conditions.
The Global Social Compliance Programme
HP also collaborates with companies from other sectors, having been a member of the Global Social Compliance Program (GSCP) since 2007. Along with leading brands from the retail, clothing and food sectors, HP works with the GSCP to deliver a consistent approach to continually improve l abor and environmental conditions across multiple sectors globally. In 2009, HP helped develop the GSCP’s site environmental requirements tool and an equivalence process to encourage the sharing of audit reports, with the aim to reduce duplication in supply chain auditing and assurance.
The Responsible Supply Chain Management Laboratory
HP, along with L’Oréal, Titan and Volkswagen, has led the
Portal for Responsible Supply Chain Management since 2007.
The site provides tools and information to support practitioners in developing their own approach to SER in the supply chain. Nearly 16,000 people
have visited the portal so far, at an average of around 2,000 visitors per month. The most frequent visitors are from the UK, the United States,
China, Germany, India and Hong Kong. The portal launched a Chinese version in June 2009.
The Sustainability Consortium
HP is a founding member of the Sustainability Consortium ,
an independent organization made up of industry, retailers, governmental and nongovernmental organizations, and academic partners that are developing
the science, data and methodologies to support a framework for measuring and communicating sustainability attributes for consumer products.
HP believes several elements of this initiative are valuable to HP and our customers. The scope of sustainability attributes
considered will include not only product environmental attributes but also supplier practices, including labor and health and safety management.
The work and information is intended to be used worldwide and will leverage existing standards and systems, such as EPEAT® and ENERGY STAR®.
It is intended to be for all consumer products, not just electronics, and will be based on an open, transparent and accessible database.
Finally, the involvement of major retailers will create demand for the Sustainability Consortium system and information.