Adele Stafford, Chief Growth Officer at Worldly, explains the impact of the new US administration on sustainability efforts so far and how brands and manufacturers are dealing with the current situation with regards to their sustainability efforts.
Worldly is a digital solution provider that enables companies to accurately measure the impact of their production. Stafford has unique insights into sustainability efforts through her work with numerous brands and manufacturers. She is confident that companies that actively collect primary data across their value chain are future-proofing their business against tomorrow’s challenges – no matter what the current political situation looks like. She also sees a certain competitive advantage in China.
Missed Part 1? Catch up on Adele Stafford’s insights into Worldly, the Higg Index & Scope 3 emissions here →
Best preparation is comprehensive knowledge of one’s supply chain
SGI Europe: In Europe, there are attempts to weaken or delay sustainability legislation, such as the Supply Chain Due Diligence Act. How do you see this? Is it a step backwards, or could it help get more companies on board?
Stafford: It’s responsible business for companies to take proactive ownership of their supply chain practices. Ultimately, regulatory shifts may continue. The way to be prepared is to have the most comprehensive knowledge of your supply chain.
This goes far beyond mere compliance – it’s a strategic move. Companies that don’t capture and analyze their supply chain impact risk inefficiencies and disruptions, which can carry significant business consequences.
On the other hand, those that actively collect primary data across their value chain are better positioned to identify opportunities for greater operational efficiency and resilience. In doing so, they’re not only addressing today’s expectations – they’re future-proofing their business against tomorrow’s challenges.
What kind of situation are sports and fashion companies in at the moment in the US? Are they questioning their sustainable transformation?
It’s a great question. It’s obviously a very unclear time. Both brands and suppliers are sort of holding their breath. They’re not pausing any activity, but they’re waiting to see what happens in the next 90 days, what actually really gets implemented. We’re not seeing brands rolling back big sustainability programs as a trend at all. And we’re not seeing or hearing about withdrawal of investment in that work. I think most companies realize that it’s beyond sustainability today. It’s about risk and resilience. It’s about doing good business in general.
You also might have regulatory requirements being pushed back or modified, as we are seeing in the EU with the Omnibus package. However, you still have a whole ecosystem of consumers and NGOs that are paying great attention to how these businesses are performing. And a lot of these businesses, too, have made this a fundamental cornerstone of their overall strategy.
But I’m not naive enough to think that there won’t be an impact. There will be. And I think we’re going to see it in the supply chain more than anywhere else.
US and EU brands alike concerned
What effects do you expect here?
The part that I’m most concerned about is the impact on manufacturers and end producers, and we’re really trying to support our brands to do everything they can to maintain support for their own supplier networks. I was just on a call with a big group of brands from the EU and the US. And I would say the EU brands were almost as concerned as the US brands about their suppliers and how they were going to figure out how to support them, especially in China.
You know, China at this point in time has a supply chain that is in some ways ahead of the curve in terms of sustainability. So when you think about going to other regions, you must make a lot of fundamental investments. I think those are trade-offs that everybody is trying to really weigh and understand. But we’re not seeing a lot of that yet, because I don’t think anyone really knows what’s going to happen.
Do you expect production to come back to the US, since that is the overall goal of the tariff war?
I mean, that’s a 30-year proposition. Like manufacturing centers aren’t built overnight. If you know anything about supply chains, you know that’s not going to happen in the next 90 days. I grew up in the southern part of the United States, which was the heart of the textile economy for a very long time in this country. And I don’t think there’s any way that it will come back. There’s so many other interesting kinds of industries that have come up in the US. For example, the textile economy in the South has turned into an automotive economy, with Volvo, BMW. Big automotive players are now in South Carolina, my home state, doing really excellent advanced manufacturing work. That’s all really positive.
I think the idea that we are going to rebuild an economy for every industry within the next year is not really rational.
