to prevent A law to child labour. There are, however, companies much more reasons to make the supply chain transparent, says Klaus meadows.

Where are the parts? Production of the E-Golf in Dresden, Germany photo: Rainer Weisflog meadows/imago

taz: Mr, the Federal government is planning a supply chain law. Big business associations are upset about it. Why is it so difficult to get chains more transparent?

Klaus meadows: A company has today is not supply chain with twenty suppliers, but with several Hundred or even several Thousand. And most can't even tell you who supplies your supplier – or worse: not even say, where a direct supplier is now producing really. The deeper I go in the supply chain, the harder and Messier it will be. The company does not have this data so, you're probably not even requested. If you want to restore transparency regarding their sustainability risks, all in the supply chain to cooperate.

you speak of sustainability risks. Companies therefore not only have to demonstrate that they comply with their human rights responsibilities?

people legal responsibility is currently an important driver for supply chain law. And compliance with labour standards in General, sustainable economies. But alone with the proof of "no child labour" can't a company in the competition. Children work all want to produce Yes.

The 2017-founded Cologne-based Start-up sustaina bill helps globalised companies, transparency of delivery in your complex to bring chains. The information comes from the suppliers and their suppliers. Everyone gets a profile, in which he deposited his sub-suppliers, certificates, and production data per product.

This information validated sustaina bill, such as with external data such as satellite information, or by automatic plausibility checks. Customers include, among others, Volkswagen, Zalando, the Seidensticker Group and Econvent.

what is it else?

The world – and especially investors – are increasingly demanding sustainable production. And also the company brings to a change of system, away from the: "I do not need to know exactly."

Where for example?

In the car industry it is today because of the shift to E-mobility: How much does the car consumes? But: How sustainable is the battery was made? How sustainable is the Motor is, as eco of a driving current? The auto industry has shown this path as a Central solution in the context of climate targets. Should now that electric cars are not socially - and environmentally-friendly to produce, is the for the car manufacturer a Meltdown. You need to give so a lot of effort, but can not make a reliable eco-balance, if you have the facts of all the players in the supply chain.

photo: private

Klaus meadows is one of the founders and is the CEO of sustaina bill. Previously, he was a research fellow at the Wuppertal Institute to the circular economy and life cycle assessment.

With your "sustaina bill Team", provide a platform through which companies, their suppliers and sub-supplier requests, and then all of your data to share with each other can. Where are the difficulties in this process?

suppliers are accustomed to a certain extent, to provide the customer with information about the business activities of their own. In order to create transparency and sustainability along the supply chain to assess needs but also other data, as the suppliers are already accustomed to. It may be that this information is available in itself, just because they have not been queried until then. In some cases, suppliers don't want to share this data.

you Can assume that you have something to hide?

If the suppliers do not want to share data, this can have a wide variety of reasons. Cultural lack of understanding, lack of confidence and sometimes also the fear that you are not able to meet the demands of the customers in terms of sustainability. The most important would be that suppliers find it advantageous to share the data. The requesting company must be able to provide a comprehensible reason why the data is important to you – your own sustainability goals, for example. The supplier must be comprehensible, that this is not a long-term cooperation and we would like to share with the subject of be successful in the market. Often companies also offer, together with the supplier to address problems, if any are identified. If this is the way grievances are addressed, a win-win for all actors in the supply chain.

What it hooks then in the actual implementation?

Many companies have no Position, driving the issue of sustainability seriously. The shopping is thinking in economic categories. In a CSR Department (Corporate Social Responsibility or Corporate social responsibility) tend to be based around measures in the company, in the supply chain. Often people who originally come from other areas to work there, you Know about sustainable Produce are missing. The only changes slowly.

How can the Problem of the lack of confidence to solve?

communication is essential. For suppliers, it is important that the data are only within the supply chain is transparent, that each company has full control over his data. And if there are initially only very few information that you want to share, this is a good start. Also, since the technique helps then Yes.

How?

If a supplier is not willing to share business data, but perhaps its location is, you can already risks highlighting. And to understand risks better, is for many companies more important than the question of sustainability – both of which are heard close together. A Farm for example, If I know that it is located in a certain area, I can see the use of geo-information, whether because the forest is reduced, if there are only mono-cultures. There, the companies are not able to send auditors, which would be for the entire supply chain to be affordable. And with artificial intelligence in the future, much more will be possible – for example, to perceive if there is about Social Media on child labour. Or to detect whether the energy consumption of a company with the alleged volume of production is compatible.

What good is it, if the companies in the supply chain, namely the information, but the Public is deprived?

so Far, this is not a Problem that the companies themselves have the data, and then far too often hide behind it. Now we can show, However, supply chains are traceable, can be made transparent. The company, the go ahead and there are those that do the show. For the policy of the legislature that is important when it comes to the question of regulation.

What kind of regulation would be necessary?

A chain of law Delivery, as it stands now in view, would already help a lot. It should, however, go in depth and not at the first or second link in the chain stay. It would have to allow competition, so that those who give more effort and stricter rules to adhere to, as well. Conversely, it should hold in the case of violations sanctions. Apart from this law, it would also help to require CO2 prices on Goods, taking into account the emissions of the supply chain, as it calls for the EU in the Green New Deal with the CO2 border adjustment tax.