Vestas’ business partners play an important role for Vestas in order to be able to meet its goals – with regard to both sustainability as well as fulfilling the aspiration for wind energy to be beneficial for society as a whole. Business partners include customers, sub-suppliers of components and raw materials for the manufacturing of wind turbines, transportation companies and others. Two examples below illustrate their significance to Vestas’ sustainability initiatives.
- In order to improve the sustainability of the products, Vestas has to work closely with sub-suppliers of components and raw materials, which today account for more than 80 % of the energy consumed in the product manufacturing process.
- In order to ensure the health and safety of Vestas employees, for example when a turbine is erected, customers and sub-suppliers must be both aware of – and follow – the Vestas safety rules and procedures.
In addition to this area of Vestas' work with sustainability and business partners, Vestas has prepared a Code of Conduct in accordance with the UN Global Compact, the International Bill of Human Rights and the International Labour Organization conventions. Vestas will work actively to ensure that partners also respect the Code of Conduct, and, to the greatest extent possible, will prioritise working with business partners who are dedicated to and support Vestas' view on sustainability, with particular emphasis on the following:
- ensuring that work is carried out safely – the first priority in any situation
- respecting the freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining with respect to legislation and practice in the country the business partner operates in
- eliminating all forms of forced labour
- eliminating child labour
- eliminating all forms of work-related discrimination
- protecting the environment
A wind turbine consists of several thousand components each with its own sub-suppliers. Thus, Vestas' supply chain is complex with many links. Vestas Business Units have their own procurement functions which are responsible for handling their respective business partners. In total, there are several thousand partners worldwide. There are business partners in the entire Vestas value chain, meaning that the values and standards in Vestas are propagated to a large number of different business partners with different interfaces to the Vestas organisation. Initiatives with sustainability and business partners is currently being systematised in order for the organisation to base its work on the following fundamental principles:
Competence development
Vestas wants to develop competences and understanding of its sustainability activities among its business partners.
Over time, Vestas wishes to influence relevant development of institutions and competences in the countries where its business partners operate. This to an extent which makes it possible for government and authorities to enforce legislation and international conventions. Again this will increase the focus on collaboration on more productive activities with Vestas' business partners and reduce the resource-heavy aspects that are primarily intended to minimise risk.
Segmented approach
Vestas has a focused approach when identifying the business partners and focus areas that are most relevant to Vestas’ sustainability work. With respect to some business partners, it makes more sense to collaborate thoroughly and, for example, aim to reduce energy consumption, whereas for other partners it can be relevant to build up necessary safety understanding and competences. On the other hand, there will be partners who have made such progress in their sustainability work that Vestas’ involvement will be limited. In these instances, Vestas will be able to enter into a knowledge-sharing process with them instead.
Focus on dialogue and continuous improvement
A precondition for generating improvement is the ability and willingness of business partners to work on safety, environmental and human rights issues and to fight corruption and bribery, both for their own organisations and for their sub-suppliers. Thus, the long-term work is a combination of requirements, advice and guidance.
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The materials blacklist (pdf)
