Engaging Kalsec Suppliers to Participate in Carbon Reduction Activities

Kalsec Inc. is a food and beverage company headquartered in Southwest Michigan. This paper examines how Kalsec should engage their raw material suppliers in order to reduce their scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions as part of their commitment to the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). Kalsec’s target is to have 85% of suppliers (by spend) committed to SBTi by end of year 2028. This paper explores how other companies are targeting supplier engagement, how Kalsec customers are actively engaging Kalsec in their sustainability efforts, and how Kalsec should engage their suppliers. Part of the paper looks at the tools that can be used for engagement such as top-to-top meetings, industry portals or dashboards, questionnaires, and collaboration. The use of Sedex, the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform, and the Cool Farm Alliance feature heavily as tools to use for agricultural supplier engagement. Finally, the paper examines what the consequences will be of not succeeding in gaining supplier support for greenhouse gas emission reductions.