Curating a responsible supply chain

Scope 3 emissions account for 95 percent of GKN Automotive’s total emissions. The majority of these emissions are generated by downstream Scope 3 in the in-use phase of a market that is still predominantly internal combustion driven. The extraction and processing of metals such as steel and aluminum dominate our upstream Scope 3 emissions from our supply chain. As the automotive industry moves away from fossil fuels, these proportions will shift from in-use to upstream and manufacturing.

We, therefore, treat Scope 3 emissions as a key systems engineering challenge to be optimized alongside traditional fundamentals, such as cost and performance. This requires a fundamental shift in engineering attitude – sustainability must be embedded in every objective, with the carbon impact considered from the outset. Here, developing product LCA can help to reveal the embedded emissions associated with every variable of a product. This unearths the cost and impact associated with sourcing resources globally.

Using these insights, companies can then identify opportunities to localize inputs to minimize transport costs, reduce emissions, and improve the resilience of their supply chains. In 2023, 67 percent of GKN Automotive’s global business was sourced locally, achieved by engaging with strategic suppliers to bring their manufacturing operations closer to our plants, thereby reducing transportation mileage and emissions.

Working closely with suppliers across their value chains also allows manufacturers to ensure that products and materials are responsibly sourced, whether already localized or not. To help with this, we work closely with our strategic suppliers to ask that they provide us with their sustainability roadmaps and targets, enabling greater transparency across our value chain.

Building out the capability to deploy LCAs for every product design is a significant challenge for manufacturers that requires a great commitment. This requires teams to use commercial data sets from across the supply chain and work with suppliers to create “primary data” of specific products and processes. A repeatable, standardized process must synthesize data from these various sources to develop LCAs reliably and at a scale that can be used to support strategic procurement and manufacturing decisions.

While posing its respective challenges to manufacturers, suppliers and customers alike, the drive for sustainability will help to deliver a better future while catalyzing cost reductions and improved performance. For innovators like GKN Automotive, it’s a differentiating factor alongside cost, quality, and performance, and one that pushes the automotive industry to reduce waste, control energy usage and better understand production throughout all tiers of the supply chain.

The bottom line is that challenges associated with prioritizing sustainability within the supply chain are not only necessary but something that must be faced head-on to guarantee a sustainable future for transport and mobility.