In its annual sustainability report, Adidas, the sportswear firm, describes sustainability as a marathon and not a sprint concerning the 'significant challenges we face in the future to address our social, material and environmental issues'. No mean feat for a business that sells products in virtually every country in the world and with 170 subsidiaries and approximately 40,000 employees.The dilemma for procurement managers and suppliers is how to reconcile the fact that in defining requirements and high expectations for suppliers in terms of products and services they do more with less. This means fewer resources, less energy, less damage to the environment, less of everything basically, but they must still deliver to the original specification. This requires an enlightened customer and a switched-on supplier, but also wider and deeper evaluation criteria than may be associated with traditional procurement exercises. For Adidas, this means working with hundreds of suppliers around the globe, monitoring environmental issues, for example reducing solvent emissions by as much as 80% per pair of shoes, monitoring suppliers and rejecting unsuitable factories as well as building capacity across the supply chain by involving suppliers, licensees, workers and employees. This also includes targets to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions, water saving and waste reduction by double-digit percentage figures and the use of management tools, like its Sustainability Compliance Initiative (SCI) audit. Adidas reported that in 2014 it had terminated contracts with 14 suppliers in Asia as a result of repeated poor performance or non- compliance with its own sustainability agenda and targets.

Why does Adidas pursue the sustainable/green sourcing?