SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY CHAIN
Fortescue's upstream supply chain is global and complex, involving 2,910 Australian and 1,669 international suppliers in FY24. The company integrates various sustainability factors in its sourcing processes, including traceability, emissions, decarbonization, circularity, worker welfare, and human rights. The Board's SSC oversees sustainability, while the Executive team and the Head of Procurement, Contracts, and Supply Chain manage day-to-day sustainable supply chain operations.
Sustainable Supply Chain Initiatives
Fortescue has a Sustainable Supply Chain Team within the Contracts and Procurement function to support its Metals and Energy businesses. This team focuses on how we can work with our supply chain partners to reduce emissions, promote decent work, and drive circularity. This is underpinned through enhanced due diligence for high-risk sourcing activities, which includes assessing for modern slavery risk and advancing traceability. For suppliers that do not meet our minimum sustainability expectations, Contracts and Procurement implements risk management plans as part of the contract award to ensure support ongoing monitoring. Fortescue places a strong emphasis on transparency and collaboration, aiming to build resilient supply chains and gain a better understanding of emissions profiles, environmental impacts, and human rights risks. This approach includes capability building, and conducting collaborative verification activities with strategic suppliers such as traceability audits and worker welfare assessments.
Decarbonisation Program
In FY23, we established a dedicated Decarbonization Project Management Office (PMO) in Contracts and Procurement. This team has been instrumental in developing a contractor action plan and an engagement strategy. Looking ahead, we are focusing on several key areas: educating contractors about our decarbonisation journey, enhancing our procurement governance, improving our understanding of contractor, and developing guidance to better engage our suppliers on emission reduction efforts.
Addressing modern slavery
At Fortescue, we firmly oppose all forms of slavery and work closely with our suppliers to address modern slavery risks in our supply chain. Our Modern Slavery Procurement Procedure involves risk assessments, mandatory enhanced due diligence for high-risk activities, and ongoing monitoring and verification activities such as site visits, audits, and third-party screenings. In FY24, we refined our modern slavery work program, further enhanced our due diligence in renewable sectors, conducted worker welfare assessments, completed traceability testing, and updated our human rights terms and conditions.
