IBM's requirements for suppliers to establish and maintain a corporate responsibility and environmental management system, measuring performance, setting goals, and disclosing results, are listed below:
Following this notification, IBM requires its suppliers within one year to:
- Establish a corporate social responsibility and environmental management system that is defined, deployed, and sustainable and that identifies significant aspects of the supplier's intersections with these matters, including those articulated in the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA) Code of Conduct. The supplier must be able to demonstrate that such a management system is in place and is deployed at their sites where work for IBM is performed, such that should IBM choose to conduct an audit, either by IBM or an IBM-directed third party, of a supplier's corporate social responsibility program and/or supplier's environmental program, the supplier will be able to demonstrate complete compliance to all elements of the RBA Code of Conduct;
- Establish programs (within the supplier's management system) to control operations that intersect with the above matters and that confirm their compliance with applicable law, regulation, and any particular contractual requirements related to IBM;
- Monitor/measure supplier's environmental performance and have established voluntary environmental goals to track and improve upon environmental performance, and, where applicable include at a minimum each of the following environmental aspects:
- energy conservation
- waste management and recycling
- scope 1 and scope 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions *
- Set voluntary environmental goals to achieve positive results associated with the supplier's significant environmental aspects, where applicable, and include at a minimum one goal in each of the three aspects cited in requirement 3 above;
- Publicly disclose results associated with the above-mentioned voluntary environmental goals and other environmental aspects from the management system, including any regulatory fines or penalties that may have occurred;
- Train employees who are responsible for the performing/monitoring/measuring/reporting of environmental performance, assuring the appropriate skill-level and competency;
- As part of the supplier's management system, conduct self-assessments and audits as well as management reviews of the supplier's system;
- Cascade the above set of (seven) IBM requirements to the supplier's own suppliers that perform work that is material to the products, parts, and/or services supplied to IBM.
*Note:
Scope 1 greenhouse gas emissions: direct emissions generated by the company.
Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions: indirect emissions that are associated with the generation of electricity that is purchased and consumed by the company.
Illustrative information about IBM's own Global Environmental Management System and environmental reporting and disclosure can be found at IBM's Global Environmental Management System and Environmental Reporting and Disclosure Web sites.
IBM reserves the right to assess the supplier's conformance to these requirements any time during the term of this purchase order. Failure to comply with all applicable requirements can ultimately result in termination.