Responsible Supply Chain
Objective
Responsibly procure all goods and services
Goals
All procured goods and services to be responsibly sourced
Collaborate with our supply chain to capture the innovation required to deliver net zero carbon
Engage our supply chain to support our wider sustainability objectives
“Our Supplier Sustainability Week is a fantastic example of how, through collaborative working, we can create real solutions and the change needed to drive the decarbonisation agenda to where it needs to be.”
Jonathan Harry, Procurement Director West Europe at Tarmac
Tarmac procures thousands of goods and services each year, so it is important we ensure they are sourced, manufactured, and traded legally, ethically, and with careful consideration of their environmental, social, and economic impacts.
Highlights
Aligning our Supply Chain with our Values
In 2023, we hosted our third Supplier Sustainability Week to explore our wider sustainability landscape in partnership with our supply chain. The week included a series of sessions on how Tarmac and its supply chain partners can work together to improve sustainability in operations. The sessions covered a variety of topics including reducing carbon emissions, reusing materials, water recycling, exploring alternative fuels for cement production, and logistics efficiency.
2023 also saw Tarmac host its first ‘NextGen 2030+’ customer event, sharing what the construction industry can expect in the years to come and how we are working with partners, customers, and suppliers to shape the future. Around 120 key customer representatives and supply chain partners, including National Highways, Kier, Skanska, Shell, and Renault Trucks, attended the event, which was held at Panshanger Park, in Hertfordshire, June.
Attendees
Deep dive sessions
Presenters
Hours of content delivered
Sessions held
Supplier Innovation Challenge
Tarmac held its fourth Supplier Innovation Challenge in 2023, which was open to existing and new suppliers, university teams, and any organisation or individual with an idea to support the acceleration of the company’s transition to net zero.
For this year’s challenge, entrants were encouraged to submit ideas on circularity – focusing on new technologies, innovations and solutions which are, or have the potential to be, ready for integration, to further drive Tarmac’s circular economy ambitions.
Innovative ideas submitted
Working with our Supply Chain
Decarbonisation Club As our industry continues to work on the transition to net zero, Tarmac’s Decarbonisation Club now comprises 15 suppliers actively working to develop practical and deliverable sustainability solutions that can be implemented across construction and infrastructure projects. In 2023, our work with the Club continued as we started identifying Tarmac sites where we can trial those projects proposed by our suppliers, as a next step towards their integration into our day-to-day activities.
Battery Electric Concrete Mixer In 2022, Tarmac procured the UK’s first all-electric ready-mix concrete mixer. In 2023, the mixer successfully completed a three-month trial of commercial deliveries across Birmingham for Tarmac, marking a significant step on the path to net zero construction. It is now in full operation.
The e-mixer was created in partnership with Renault Trucks and TVS Interfleet and was the first of its kind to operate anywhere in the UK. With zero tailpipe emissions, and the same average capacity as a conventional diesel vehicle, it is expected to save 42 tonnes of CO2 annually, with zero emissions per mile compared to 1.55kg of CO2 per mile for its fossil fuel equivalent.
Shell Partnership Working alongside partner Shell, in 2023, we hosted a series of workshops in Durham and Old Trafford for our local authority customers, where we shared the opportunities available to advance net zero construction across local authority networks. The events encouraged further commitment from local authorities to adopting some of the latest innovations in asphalt materials solutions currently on the market and help local authorities tackle the climate emergency through projects such as the A64 Net zero Road project which we completed in 2023.
Sourcing and Selling with Integrity
Tarmac implements the CRH Supplier Code of Conduct, providing core supplier due diligence processes to increase visibility and insights into our supply chain. This process captures a digital Supplier Code of Conduct acknowledgement, as well as information on supplier performance in areas such as discrimination, workforce rights, human rights, workforce disputes, and workforce health and safety issues.
We assess the sustainability risks of our major areas of spend in line with ISO 20400 - Sustainable Procurement best practice using 12 assessment criteria that cover the critical areas that impact our supply chain, such as health and safety, human and labour rights, environment, climate change, and governance.
We continue to ensure that Tarmac’s whole product range is certified against BES 6001 for the Responsible Sourcing of Construction Products and rated ‘Excellent’. This standard assesses if construction products have been sourced and manufactured responsibly. Certification to BES 6001 ensures sourcing risks are minimised across the supply chain and provides customers with added reassurance about the sustainability of the products they are buying.
In 2023, we were the first UK building materials company to complete our BES 6001 re-certification against the new version 4 standard, covering our whole business. We successfully maintained our ‘Excellent’ rating across all product groups. This required collaboration with teams and sites from across the business and means we can continue to give our customers confidence in the products we supply.
Looking Forward
We will continue to engage with our suppliers through our fourth Supplier Sustainability Week and aim to support customer sustainability ambitions. We aim to progress projects through our Decarbonisation Club by continuing the work to identify sites to hold trials for these solutions, as well as encourage new potential projects through our supplier innovation challenge. We are also committed to working with our suppliers to better understand our scope 3 emissions and how we can work together to reduce these.
