Supply chain management

We’ll give you the tools to amplify your impact by leveraging your relationships with suppliers.

Having a positive social and environmental impact isn’t limited to your own work as an organisation. A proactive approach to supply chain management can push your values through your contractual relationships and magnify the benefits. 

How we help

We believe that little steps can have a big impact. Weaving climate clauses into your contracts can extend your environmental principles through your supply chain and help to lower your scope 3 emissions. Making social value a requirement for your suppliers when building your procurement processes can achieve societal benefits beyond your own operations.

As the UK’s first B Corp law firm, we’ve implemented a supplier code of conduct, incorporating requirements around living wage and environmental objectives into our agreements. As your advisors, we can offer our practical experience of engaging with both our clients and our suppliers on environmental and social impact, as well as supporting you in developing new commissioning and contracting approaches.

  • We advise on the Modern Slavery Act and how it affects your supplier relationships
  • We advise on how to build social value requirements into your procurement processes, contractual terms and contract management practices in holistic ways
  • We build climate-aware clauses into your contracts and service level agreements
  • We draft responsible outsourcing policies and supplier codes of conduct
  • If a contractual relationship turns sour, our Dispute Resolution team will help you to mitigate, not litigate – avoiding court action wherever possible through mediation.
Meet our team
You May Also Be Interested In

Creating a ‘Speak Up’ culture in purpose-driven businesses: The benefits of an effective whistleblowing framework

Bates Wells convenes the Impact Counsels’ Forum, a space for senior counsel working within impact investors, B Corps, and other purpose-driven businesses. The forum discusses the ‘impact angles’ on legal and practical issues faced by in-house legal teams. Recently, the forum explored the benefits an effective whistleblowing framework and how that can support an open …
Read more

Using the law to create change – a new guide for charities and campaigning groups

In partnership with NEON, this new guide explains how your organisation can use the law to create meaningful change. Legal action is rarely enough to drive systemic change on its own, but the law can be a powerful tool for purpose-driven organisations, especially when combined with other tactics within a broader campaign strategy. The guide …
Read more

Purpose & Impact: your roundup | June

Welcome to your roundup – a monthly selection of news hand-picked to keep you up to date with what’s going on for businesses and investors working to create positive impact. In this roundup you can find out what’s new in the B Corp, social enterprise, and impact investing spaces, amongst others, collated under helpful headings. …
Read more

New company guide empowers UK company directors to embed sustainability information in financial reporting

Bates Wells has contributed to a new guide, issued by the True & Fair Project, to support UK company directors who have decided that information relating to sustainability issues is necessary for their accounts to give a true and fair view. ‘Are Your Financial Statements True and Fair?’ underscores directors’ legal obligation to consider sustainability …
Read more

What’s next for UK environmental protection?

On 24 January, the Climate and Nature (CAN) Bill was ‘adjourned’ to 11 July after politicians were denied the opportunity for a ‘free vote’ to advance the Bill to its next stage. Instead, the government has promised that next steps will include binding commitments to advance the CAN Bill’s objectives, including for legislation. We considered …
Read more