ABSTRACT
In many ways, 'greening' the supply network has been an integral part of industrial development throughout history. The company adopted a sustainability strategy in the 1990s that views environment as a validated 'property', like reliability or strength, with a set of defined aspects, such as fuel-efficiency or material intensity, to be carefully targeted, monitored and improved at each stage of the product development process. Historically, compliance with regulatory regimes has been the overwhelming driver of corporate environmentalism. Volvo's 'Environmental Requirements for All Major Suppliers and Contracts' require each supplier to have a certified environmental management system in place, including goals and action plans for the continuous decrease of their environmental impacts. An important internal driver for Volvo is the digitisation of its environmental and business strategy. Web supply networks and business-to-business e-commerce sites could facilitate the tracking of purchases to indicate a company's environmental gains and identify lost opportunities as a result of less energy- and resource-efficient product purchases.
