Covia’s Commitment to Supply Chain Sustainability

Oct 24, 2023 11:00 AM ET
plant or warehouse surrounded by forest

At Covia, we view our supplier partners as extensions of our company, enabling us to Deliver on Promise to our stakeholders in a way that supports a sustainable future for all. Just as we are committed to operating our business at the highest level of ethical conduct, we expect our partners to hold themselves to similar standards. We are focused on managing our supply chain responsibly and engaging with our partners to build mutually beneficial relationships in the pursuit of our strategic business objectives and ESG goals.

We believe in the power of unlocking shared value across the supply chain to meet stakeholder expectations, drive progress against our business strategy, and advance our collective ESG objectives. Therefore, we work diligently to understand the priorities and commitments of our partners as we continue to ensure alignment as we enhance our supplier network.

In addition to ensuring our suppliers align with our high standards of conduct, we regularly engage with current and potential partners to identify and implement projects that advance our Goals that Inspire. For example, in 2022 we:

  • Consolidated our natural gas supply base, which enables greater sourcing stability through longer-term hedging opportunities as well as cost and emissions reduction benefits;
  • Worked toward establishing a commodity risk management program through the formation of a commodity hedge council and formalized hedging policy, which enabled us to ramp up coverage for dryer fuel sourcing needs;
  • Proposed setting up regional warehouses in partnership with several of our supplier partners to improve warehouse efficiencies and add resilience along the value chain;
  • Established relationships with secondary and tertiary suppliers to ensure product availability and avoid disruptions;
  • Maintained our power purchase agreement (PPA) for renewable energy procurement; and
  • Conducted feasibility studies for a potential 7-megawatt ground-mount solar field.

In 2023, our Procurement Team has made significant progress on the Goals that Inspire and will soon be ready to roll out Covia's new Supplier Code of Conduct to all suppliers in our network. The team looks forward to sharing specific information in our 2023 ESG Report.

We are committed to engaging in responsible partnerships across our supplier network that reflect our organizational values and ESG priorities. To learn more about Our Business Partner Code of Conduct and our expectations for our suppliers, vendors, and business, visit our 2022 ESG Report.