Sustainability is a strategic priority at Mölnlycke and the partnership with our suppliers is essential to achieve our objectives included in our sustainability roadmap 2030 - WeCare. As a global purchaser, we are in a position to influence environmental, ethical and social conduct among our suppliers. We take a variety of measures to set requirements on our suppliers to align with Mölnlycke's culture of high ethical standards. We also innovate together with the aim to offer our customers sustainable solutions.
Our ambition is to have a positive impact on people and communities in our global supply chain. That’s why we’re a proud member of Sedex – a platform aimed to improve ethical and social performance in global supply chains.
Using the Sedex risk assessment approach, we screen all new and active suppliers to identify possible sustainability risks that suppliers might be exposed to, considering the country and sector where different commodities are sourced from. This allows us to engage with the most relevant suppliers and find out if there is any room for improvement and if suppliers live up to our requirements regarding labour rights, health and safety, and the environment.
The Mölnlycke Supplier Code of Conduct outlines the minimum requirements for Mölnlycke’s suppliers with regards to human rights, working conditions and business ethics. It aims to ensure that suppliers comply with rules and regulations, provide safe working conditions for their employees, respect fair business ethics practices, amongst other issues. The Supplier Code of Conduct is incorporated in Mölnlycke’s Supplier Standard, which also includes requirements on quality and environment, and contractually applies to all direct material suppliers, e.g. suppliers of raw materials or components, as well as logistic suppliers and indirect suppliers having a critical impact on finished products or Mölnlycke business operations.
Suppliers are expected to follow the principles and requirements set out in the Code of Conduct, and apply and communicate the requirements to their own suppliers.
As a Sedex member, Mölnlycke will further develop and align its requirements and ways of working with the recognised auditing standard and tools provided by Sedex, such as the SMETA 4 pillar audit (Sedex Member Ethical Trade Audit).
Mölnlycke's largest source of emission are the supply chain-related emissions. The partnership with suppliers is crucial for us to reach Net Zero by 2050. As of 2024, we got our near-term GHG emission reduction targets validated by Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). In addition to reducing absolute GHG emissions, we also have set a Supplier Engagement target.
We encourage our strategic suppliers and other business partners to join us and embark on the journey to help decarbonise healthcare. To this end, Mölnlycke’s procurement teams continuously monitor our suppliers’ status on committing to the SBTi and evaluate this parameter in our sourcing plans.
