Global uncertainties are reshaping supply chains. In Part 2 of the interview with Sonal Desai, Managing Editor, ESGNews.earth, Bhupendra Kumar, a senior supply chain specialist and Certified Green Supply Chain Professional from CII, talks about the top three strategic priorities for a resilient and future-proof supply chain.
Visibility is a foundational challenge for sustainable supply chains. How are companies leveraging technologies like blockchain, IoT, and AI to gain granular data and create a transparent, end-to-end view of their supply chain? And for the smaller players, what are the most accessible and impactful digital solutions they can adopt to meet these new demands?
Companies are increasingly turning to digital technologies to solve the visibility challenge. Blockchain ensures tamper-proof traceability of products from source to shelf, building trust across multiple tiers. IoT devices provide real-time monitoring of assets—temperature, location, emissions—helping track sustainability metrics with precision. AI and advanced analytics convert this data into actionable insights, allowing companies to predict disruptions, optimize routes, and measure ESG performance more accurately. Together, these tools create an end-to-end transparent view of supply chains, enabling larger players to not only comply with regulations but also build resilience and consumer confidence.
For smaller players, the challenge lies in cost and capability. Globally, many are adopting lighter, more accessible digital solutions: low-cost IoT sensors for energy and fleet tracking, cloud-based platforms for supplier reporting, and mobile-first applications that connect them to larger ecosystems. Initiatives like GS1 digital standards or blockchain consortiums allow even small suppliers to participate without heavy infrastructure. Importantly, when big corporations provide shared platforms, training, and incentives—as discussed earlier—smaller players can gradually embed these technologies into their operations.
The future will hinge on this collaborative digital adoption, where large players set the framework and smaller partners adapt step by step, ensuring sustainability is not just top-down but ecosystem-wide.
Measuring and reporting on sustainability can be complex, and there’s a growing concern around greenwashing. What are the most effective KPIs and metrics for a company to track to demonstrate genuine progress in its sustainable supply chain? How can stakeholders, from investors to consumers, distinguish between true sustainable efforts and mere marketing?
Measuring sustainability in supply chains is inherently complex due to their fragmented structures, limited ground-level visibility, and high costs of tracking systems—especially for smaller players. This lack of clarity, combined with growing customer and peer pressure, often creates loopholes that lead to greenwashing rather than genuine action. The absence of universally accepted, context-specific standards further adds to the challenge.
Effective KPIs should go beyond generic claims and include carbon footprint per shipment, renewable energy share in operations, waste and water usage reduction, supplier compliance to ESG norms, and percentage of spend on certified sustainable partners. Transparent, third-party verified reporting and real-time data sharing through digital platforms can help build credibility.
For India and similar markets, developing simplified, industry-specific standards—monitored by government or credible private bodies—would be a breakthrough. Standards must be affordable and easy for smaller suppliers to adopt, ensuring inclusivity. Ultimately, combating greenwashing requires a collective effort: regulators providing frameworks, corporations creating incentives, and professionals at every level embedding sustainability ethically into daily decisions. Only then can stakeholders—from investors to consumers—differentiate between true progress and mere marketing.
Looking ahead, how do global issues like geopolitical instability, climate change, and evolving consumer demands for ethical products impact the long-term resilience of a supply chain? What are the top three strategic priorities a company should focus on right now to build a supply chain that is not just sustainable but also agile and truly future-proof?
Global uncertainties—whether geopolitical instability, climate change, or rising consumer demand for ethical products—are reshaping the very foundation of supply chains. Trade disruptions, extreme weather events, and shifting consumer preferences expose the fragility of models built purely on efficiency and cost. Long-term resilience now depends on balancing sustainability with agility, ensuring supply chains can withstand shocks while meeting stakeholder expectations.
The top three strategic priorities companies should focus on are:
1. Diversification & Localization of Supply Sources – reducing overdependence on single geographies or partners, while strengthening local ecosystems to absorb disruptions.
2. Digital Integration & Data-Driven Decision Making—leveraging IoT, AI, and blockchain to gain real-time visibility, predictive insights, and transparency across all tiers of the value chain.
3. Embedding ESG into Culture, Not Just Policy—aligning sustainability with business incentives, training suppliers at every level, and setting measurable carbon, social, and governance targets that drive genuine adoption.
By aligning strategy with these priorities, companies can create supply chains that are not only sustainable and responsible but also adaptive and future-proof against an increasingly unpredictable world.
