SCOTTSDALE, AZ—The Sustainability Consortium (TSC) recently reported that its THESIS assessments of product manufacturers show a 38 percent improvement since 2016, indicating that companies continued to pursue sustainability improvements during the 2020 global pandemic.

Nearly 1,700 manufacturers representing more than $900 billion in annual consumer product sales assessed their product and supply chain sustainability using TSC’s THESIS Index. Across these years, TSC found significant improvements in carbon and climate, water use, air quality, worker health and safety, and managing biodiversity in sourcing.

The average score of companies using THESIS in both 2019 and 2020 increased from 45 percent to 49 percent. Companies have made relative improvements of 38 percent since the baseline year of 2016.

“Long before ‘sustainability’ became a buzz word, it was simply a way of doing business at Henkel,” says Rob Anson, director of international business development at Henkel. “Today with help from THESIS, Henkel has set ambitious targets as part of a comprehensive sustainability strategy, which aims to add value while reducing its environmental footprint. Together with partners like TSC, we’re advancing sustainability along the entire value chain.”

In the 2021 Impact Report, called Resiliency and the Future of Supply Chains, TSC details that some companies are making good progress, especially in textiles and electronics, while several issues remain systematic challenges, like sustainable packaging and deforestation. Additionally, 45 percent of THESIS users only report sustainability data to THESIS, nowhere else. Twenty three percent of manufacturers worked with their suppliers on sustainability issues, and almost 9 percent of those manufacturers included sustainability requirements in their supplier contracts.

TSC Chief Executive, Euan Murray, states, “Creating resilient, net-zero, circular, sustainable products and supply chains has never been more critical. And in spite of the headwinds of 2020, companies continue to step up. The THESIS data we share in this report shows ongoing improvements in supply chain transparency and sustainability. The results are better than they have ever been.”

TSC translates the best sustainability science into business tools that are used all over the world to create more sustainable consumer products. Their full impact report is available here.