For Lonza, Responsible Sourcing means a commitment to upholding the highest social, environmental and governance standards when making sourcing decisions. Our Procurement team develops Responsible Sourcing strategies for spend categories, raw materials and services. Our risk analysis process enables us to identify high-risk materials and geographies and take adequate mitigation actions.

Our Responsible Sourcing Program is driven by our commitment to SDG12 (Responsible Consumption and Production). Together with our suppliers, we are further shaping our collaborative approach and driving this process forward. Our suppliers and supply chain relationships are critical to the success of this commitment.

Our Programs and Targets

By 2028, we expect that suppliers representing 90% of our expenditure will have a sustainability score, while at least 67% of our Scope 3 emissions will originate from suppliers with science-based targets.

Our Program

Supplier Sustainability Initiative
to identify, measure and mitigate the ESG risks of Lonza's suppliers, including Conflict Minerals and Child labor

Supplier Decarbonization Initiative
to identify, measure and reduce the GHG emissions of Lonza's suppliers, in alignment with Paris agreement

Our Targets

For suppliers representing 90% of our spend to have a sustainability score by 2028

For suppliers representing 67% of our Scope 3 emissions to set science-based targets (SBTs) by 2028

Progress

In 2023, more than 60% of re-evaluated suppliers improved their sustainability scores compared to their last evaluation. Throughout 2023, we also completed several key supplier site audits, and communicated where compliance gaps were found. We continue to track their resulting remediation plans. Learn more in our Sustainability Report.

2022 2023
Percentage of spend from suppliers having a sustainability evaluation 33% 72%
Percentage of Scope 3 emissions from suppliers having science-based targets 4% 18%

Our Approach to Responsible Sourcing

To underline Our Commitment to Sustainability, we have developed a binding Supplier Code of Conduct. This Code sets forth key ethical, social, environmental and governance standards and principles that Lonza requires its suppliers, business partners and their contractors to adhere to, both globally and locally. Moreover, we expect our suppliers to ensure these standards and principles are upheld throughout their supply chain. In 2023, our Supplier Code of Conduct was fully revised to reflect our expectations of suppliers, based on our latest sustainability and decarbonization requirements.

Our Responsible Sourcing program aims to help our suppliers evaluate their ESG performance and address their improvement areas, by identifying their sustainability risk and decarbonization maturity level. The suppliers’ respective risk and level comprise important criteria in selecting and evaluating our business relationships. Our Responsible Supplier Toolkit summarizes our Responsible Sourcing program, initiatives and targets, providing practical guidance and expected actions.

In 2023, Lonza expanded its commitment to Responsible Sourcing practices by joining BioPhorum's Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) working group. Through this, we can actively support alignment across industries and collaborate on PCF challenges, with the aim to harmonize and simplify the requirements towards our suppliers.

Furthermore, we were again awarded with the silver medal from EcoVadis in 2023, with a higher score in sustainable procurement compared to previous years – an acknowledgment of our advanced management system for responsible sourcing.

Since 2022, we have been a member of Together for Sustainability (TfS), a joint initiative based on the principles of the United Nations Global Compact and the Responsible Care Initiative of the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA). The mission of the initiative is to drive sustainability (environmental, social, governance) improvements across the members’ supply base. As a member-driven organization and peer-to-peer network, TfS member companies aim to harmonize increasingly complex supply chain management processes and optimize dialog among worldwide business partners and suppliers.

To identify the potential ESG impacts of our suppliers, we have developed an in-house risk classification methodology, which assesses prevailing risks in the supplier’s country (country risk) and supplier’s sector (purchasing category risk). The methodology incorporates criteria for environment (including climate and energy), social standards (including child labor) and health and safety.

To measure the ESG impacts of our suppliers, we invite them to perform a tailor-made Supplier Sustainability assessment and/or audit, utilizing external providers and partners of industry initiatives. Associated risks are mitigated through Corrective Actions Plans (CAPs) and follow-up assessments and/or audits.

Lonza has established a Conflict Minerals Public Policy Statement governing our position and expectations towards our suppliers on managing the use of Conflict Minerals in our supply chain. Our due diligence process embodies the substantive components of the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas (CAHRAs), the Swiss conflict minerals regulation.

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with our supply chain are a major contributor to our overall corporate carbon footprint. Scope 3 emissions include GHG emissions from purchased goods and services, capital goods, upstream and downstream transportation and distribution, waste generated in operations, employee commuting, business travel, and fuel- and energy-related activities.

A large proportion of Lonza’s Scope 3 GHG emissions can be attributed to purchased goods and services. In order to reduce such emissions across the supply chain, we have launched a Supplier Decarbonization initiative with the support of an external partner. Through this collaboration, our top emitting suppliers can submit their environmental data to Lonza and other customers, and access expert advice to reduce their carbon footprint.

As part of our emission reduction strategy, we have submitted near-term, science-based emissions reduction targets that have now been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). We have committed that 79% of our suppliers by emissions covering purchased goods and services, capital goods and upstream transportation and distribution, will have science-based targets by 20281. As part of this commitment, we expect our suppliers to set at least Scope 1 and 2 near-term climate targets aligned with a 1.5ºC pathway following the SBTi guidelines, latest by 2028.

1This corresponds to suppliers representing 67% of Scope 3 emissions.

Useful Resources
Supplier Code of Conduct
In our Supplier Code of Conduct, we describe in detail what we expect from our suppliers.
Learn more
Responsible Supplier Toolkit
The Toolkit serves as general background information on our Responsible Sourcing activities.
Learn more
Annual and Sustainability Report
Find out more about our sustainability approach, targets and performance.
Learn more