Sustainable Purpose
Sustainable Procurement
Growing a sustainable business means pursuing environmental, social and governance responsibility together with our suppliers.
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In the name of social and environmental progress, Sappi puts due diligence into ensuring that our suppliers and supply chains are transparent and responsible. Right across our operations and throughout our supply chains, we’re dedicated to business ethics and respecting human rights through our actions and values.
Partners in sustainability
Essential to our business are the over 20,000 suppliers that are part of Sappi’s global value chain. From providing woodfibre and other raw materials to energy, logistics and other services, they support us in making the everyday products that our customers need worldwide.
Ensuring our suppliers work alongside us by acting ethically, responsibly and sustainably is a core priority in our procurement activities. These commitments are outlined in our Supplier Code of Conduct and strengthened through our collaboration with EcoVadis - a global platform that provides business sustainability ratings and transparency across value chains.
In line with our commitments under the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), we also prioritise climate action in our supplier engagement - focusing on the disclosure and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions throughout our value chain.
Working together in partnership with suppliers enables us to actively identify risk, assess social and environmental performance, as well as encourage commitment to sustainable choices and the UN SDGs
Sarah Price, Director Sustainability, Sappi Europe
According to Code
Our Group Supplier Code of Conduct outlines the minimum expectations for doing business with Sappi and is further underpinned by our Code of Ethics, Human Rights and Whistle-blowing Policies. Together, these policies ensure Sappi’s values and ethical standards are clearly understood and supported by all our suppliers, their first-tier suppliers and other stakeholders.
We do not tolerate child labour, forced labour, physical punishment or abuse. We recognise lawful employee rights of free association and collective bargaining. We comply with employment, health and safety laws in every country where we operate and expect our suppliers and contractors to do the same with equally high standards.
Our Code of Conduct covers requirements related to:
- Business ethics
- Human rights
- Health & safety
- Environment
- Diversity & equal opportunity
To ensure our suppliers understand these expectations, we request they sign self-declarations of compliance and/or integrate the Code of Conduct within contracts.
An ethical journey with suppliers
Sappi’s Code of Ethics governs our internal practices and relationships with suppliers. It states that we do not tolerate child labour, forced labour, physical punishment or abuse. We recognise lawful employee rights of free association and collective bargaining. We comply with employment, health and safety laws in every country where we operate and expect our suppliers, contractors and their suppliers to do the same with equally high standards. Our suppliers are our partners on this journey, striving towards jointly more sustainable outcomes.
Due Diligence supported by EcoVadis
Our partnership with EcoVadis reinforces our Supplier Code of Conduct by giving us more insight into our Suppliers’ risks, responsible business practices and sustainability performance.
Through EcoVadis we gain an appreciation for how our supply chain partners address critical topics like labour and human rights within their operations. We can also identify where performance is below our expectations or the industry average so that we can take action accordingly. EcoVadis assessment results can be integrated into our sourcing and supplier review processes to inform our procurement decisions.
The EcoVadis methodology focuses on 21 sustainability criteria aligned with international sustainability standards - including the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact, the International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards and the ISO 26000 standard.
Climate action in our value chains
Reducing Scope 3 emissions - the indirect emissions across a company’s value chain - is a global challenge that requires collaboration across value chains. We engage with Tier 1 raw material suppliers on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to quantify these emissions and gain a deeper understanding of the overall carbon footprint of our products. This collaboration goes beyond accounting; it provides an opportunity to exchange with our suppliers about climate action and decarbonisation progress. By working together across our value chain, we can identify opportunities and create a resilient and sustainable value chain.
Related content
Wood sourcing
Sappi maintains transparent, accountable, third-party audited supply chains to ascertain that the origin of the wood is always known and that it verifiably originates from responsibly managed forests.
Climate action
Working in partnership with suppliers enables us to identify risk, assess social and environmental performance, encourage commitment to sustainable choices and UN SDGs. We're committed to have 44% of suppliers (by spend) with science-based targets; together, we drive climate action.
Supplier portal
Through the power of OneSappi – a commitment to collaborating and partnering with stakeholders - we aim to be a trusted and sustainable organisation with an exciting future in woodfibre. We view our suppliers as key business partners who play an important role in helping us realise this vision.
Highlights from our 2025 performance
Of our global eligible spend
is with declared compliance to our Supplier Code of Conduct
Of our global eligible spend
is with suppliers that have a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) performance rating with EcoVadis
Of our global eligible spend
is with suppliers that commit to science-based emissions reduction targets