4 min. read
Last updated Jun 10, 2025
Key takeaways
Reducing scope 3 emissions requires supplier collaboration, not control. You may not own your supplier’s emissions, but you can influence them. Strategic engagement can turn suppliers into decarbonization partners.
An effective supplier engagement program can be a monumental effort. Successfully prioritizing high-impact suppliers, providing tailored resources, and tracking progress with quality data can result in maximized ROI and long-term value.
Carbon Direct helps companies scale supplier engagement with confidence. From data strategy to education and mutual decarbonization planning, our end-to-end solution and tailored services turn supply chain complexity into climate opportunity.
Supplier enagement: Tackling scope 3 emissions
For many organizations, scope 3.1 emissions, which represents purchased goods and services, make up the largest share of their carbon footprint. Yet they’re also the most challenging to tackle. Since these activities sit upstream in the value chain, outside of a company’s direct control, they are difficult to measure, manage, and reduce.
However, that hasn’t slowed down the market’s interest in seeing more detailed reporting on how companies are progressing on scope 3 reductions. The Science Based Targets Initiative’s (SBTi) Corporate Net-Zero Standard proposes that within scope 3 targets, companies should prioritize the most emission-intensive activities and areas where they have the greatest influence. Additionally, companies are encouraged to consider non-emission metrics such as the share of revenue derived from net-zero aligned products and services.
To comply with these updates and reach net-zero targets, companies can’t work in isolation. Reducing value chain emissions requires collaboration with the suppliers who produce the materials, products, and services that enable operations. And that’s where supplier engagement comes in.
What is supplier engagement?
Supplier engagement is the process of working directly with your suppliers to understand their emissions, set reduction targets, and implement strategies to decarbonize the goods and services they provide. To be effective, it cannot just be a box-checking exercise. It has to be a collaboration.
The need for supplier engagement has grown sharply as organizations attempt to untangle the interconnected nature of their value chains. Upstream emissions can no longer be “someone else’s problem.” They are a business risk and climate liability that regulators, investors, and customers demand be addressed.
Supplier engagement has become a foundational component of any serious climate action plan and an essential step toward long-term value chain resilience.
Why supplier engagement matters
Engaging suppliers on climate is more than a compliance exercise - it’s a strategic lever for long-term value. Supplier engagement can unlock wide-ranging business, environmental, and social benefits when done well.
Cost savings and operational efficiency
Getting more detailed emissions data behind purchased goods and services helps identify opportunities to increase energy efficiency, reduce waste, or incorporate lower-emission materials. These actions can help companies operate with more circular economy principles in mind and highlight areas for suppliers to lower costs and improve performance. And with physical risks from climate change mounting, supplier collaboration can strengthen financial resilience across the value chain.
Real emissions reductions
Supplier engagement is one of the most powerful ways to reduce scope 3 emissions. By supporting suppliers in measuring and managing their own footprints, more operational emissions can be accurately accounted for. This cascading effect can encourage those suppliers to engage more deeply with their own value chain. Decarbonizing will help suppliers strengthen their resilience, creating a more sustainable, competitive, and future-proof supply base. These reductions in turn enable more organizations to meet their climate targets and satisfy stakeholder expectations.
Positive social impact
Supplier engagement has historically been tied to gathering social data. Today, collaborating on community impacts and climate initiatives can reinforce each other through broader improvements in labor practices, ethical sourcing, and community development. For example, supporting local suppliers in transitioning to low-carbon processes may also contribute to better wages, safer working conditions, and local economic development, especially in regions most vulnerable to climate change. In this way, supplier engagement becomes a tool for reducing emissions and shaping a more equitable and sustainable global economy.
What makes a supplier engagement program successful?
A successful supplier engagement program is built on clear priorities, strong relationships, and quality data. While every organization’s strategy will look different depending on its size, sector, and supplier base, the most effective programs share a few critical elements.
Clear and purposeful objectives
Supplier engagement starts with clear objectives. Measurable goals provide internal alignment and clarity for suppliers. Some organizations aim for a quantitative target, such as engaging 80% of suppliers based on spend to set science-based targets by 2030. Other organizations may prefer a qualitative objective, such as collaborating with suppliers who provide high strategic value to company operations. In either case, getting clear on the criteria and timeline for engagement is essential. Knowing the intended outcome can help focus limited resources efficiently and allow teams to develop a roadmap that drives meaningful progress.
Quality data for smarter decisions
Reliable data is the foundation of any credible climate strategy. Gathering accurate emissions data from suppliers enables better baseline setting, more precise target tracking, and informed decision-making over time. While collecting supplier data can be challenging, especially across a complex or global value chain, investing in the right tools and support systems makes a major difference. Organizations that succeed here often rely on climate data platforms, supplier surveys, and third-party data services to close gaps and drive consistency.
Open, transparent communication
Engagement cannot be a one-way directive. Establishing open, honest lines of communication with suppliers helps build trust, align expectations, and foster collaboration. Regular updates on climate goals, clear guidance on what’s needed, and feedback loops to discuss progress or roadblocks all contribute to a more productive and lasting partnership. Suppliers are more likely to engage and invest in decarbonization efforts when they understand the “why,” see tangible support, and feel included in the process.
5 strategies to effectively engage suppliers
Supplier engagement requires a thoughtful, phased approach that provides suppliers with structure and support. Here are five steps to build and scale a successful supplier engagement program that leads to meaningful decarbonization.
1. Segment your suppliers
Not all suppliers require the same level or type of engagement. Segmenting your supplier base allows you to prioritize resources and customize your approach. Common ways to segment include:
By emissions contribution: Focus first on suppliers with the highest emissions impact.
By spend or strategic importance: Identify key partners where collaboration is essential.
By maturity: Adapt engagement based on where suppliers are in their climate journey.
By relationship flexibility: Consider whether you can influence supplier behavior through procurement levers (i.e., are you a marquee client or do you lack significant leverage?).
This segmentation allows for targeted outreach, clearer expectations, and more scalable program design.
2. Integrate climate into procurement
Procurement is a powerful lever for climate action. Embedding climate criteria into sourcing decisions signals to suppliers that decarbonization is a priority. For example:
Include emissions performance and climate targets in RFPs and supplier evaluations.
Prioritize suppliers that demonstrate progress on sustainability.
Incorporate sustainability clauses into contracts that outline expectations, reporting requirements, or shared targets.
This approach rewards low-carbon efforts when applied strategically to the right segments of suppliers. Encouraging broader supplier participation requires incorporating a phased approach based on your supplier segments.
3. Provide education and support
Many suppliers, especially small and mid-sized ones, face real barriers to climate action. It’s important not to leave behind parties who want to take action but lack the skills or resources. Helping them build capacity can unlock progress for both parties. Support can include:
Webinars, workshops, and training on emissions measurement, target setting, and decarbonization.
Best practices, tools, and case studies from peers.
Access to methodologies and platforms that simplify data collection and analysis.
Supporting suppliers builds trust and enables them to meet your expectations and their climate goals.
4. Collaborate on solutions
Engagement is more than asking for data or mandating improvement. Meaningful progress requires working together to find innovative, mutually beneficial solutions, especially when suppliers face financial, technical, or operational barriers to decarbonization. To support suppliers, companies can:
Host joint ideation workshops to explore low-carbon technologies, materials, or process innovations.
Establish co-investment models to share the cost and risk of decarbonization projects.
Provide access to green financing or supplier sustainability funds that unlock action.
Support the use of book-and-claim environmental attribute certificates (EACs) as credible, interim tools for reducing scope 2 or scope 3 emissions when direct action isn’t feasible.
These collaborative strategies build momentum, foster trust, and accelerate emissions reductions across the value chain.
5. Track progress with high-quality climate data
Measurement and accountability are key to sustaining momentum. Companies should:
Establish clear KPIs for supplier engagement and emissions reductions.
Use robust carbon accounting platforms to monitor and verify progress.
Communicate regularly with suppliers to share feedback and recognize achievements.
Ongoing transparency builds credibility, supports continuous improvement, and demonstrates leadership to stakeholders.
Turning ambition into action
The complexity of scope 3 shouldn’t be a barrier to action. It should be a signal to collaborate smarter. Supplier engagement isn’t just about asking for data or setting expectations. It’s about equipping your value chain with the knowledge, tools, and support needed to decarbonize together.
That’s where Carbon Direct comes in. Our Supplier Engagement services help organizations translate climate targets into practical, scalable programs that drive real emissions reductions. From identifying high-impact suppliers to delivering tailored education, tracking data, and designing joint decarbonization strategies, we provide end-to-end support to make your supplier engagement strategy a success.
Let’s make your supply chain more climate resilient.
Learn more about Carbon Direct’s Measure & Supplier Engagement solutions.
