How should I approach Supplier Engagement and how can Trace help?

Supplier engagement is a critical part of managing and reducing Scope 3 emissions, and Trace’s approach is aligned with the Science Based Targets initiative’s latest supplier engagement guidance. SBTi recognises that organisations cannot address all suppliers at once and recommends prioritising high impact suppliers, setting clear engagement targets, and focusing on whether suppliers have credible emissions reduction commitments rather than perfect data. This pragmatic, phased approach supports meaningful progress while acknowledging current data limitations across value chains.

Below is Trace’s recommended approach, along with how the platform and services can support you at each stage.

Step 1: Identify high impact suppliers

Start by prioritising suppliers based on their potential impact and influence, such as:

• Emissions intensity or spend

• Strategic importance, for example software, data providers or logistics partners

• Willingness or readiness to act

You can view and rank each Supplier's contribution to your footprint in the Measure dashboard, under Deep dive by Category. This data helps you identify which suppliers contribute most to your footprint, so you can focus engagement where it will deliver the greatest impact. Note that this feature is only available on our Pro and Enterprise plans and where customers provide supplier level spend or activity data.

Step 2: Set a supplier engagement target

Set a clear and achievable target for supplier engagement, such as engaging a percentage of suppliers each year.

Start with a realistic scope and expand over time as your internal capability and supplier maturity increase. This approach supports steady progress without overloading your team or your suppliers.

Step 3: Engage your suppliers

Engagement can range from simple information requests (e.g. scope 1 and 2 data) to deeper collaboration over time.

Supplier engagement is resource intensive and response rates can be low, particularly in early stages. For this reason, we recommend a targeted approach, such as engaging your top 10 suppliers by emissions or spend first.

Over time, supplier emissions visibility is expected to improve as mandatory climate reporting expands and accountability for emissions increases across value chains. Starting now positions your organisation to benefit from better quality data as it becomes available.

Trace offers supplier engagement services, priced on request, to support this process. This can include supplier carbon surveys to understand whether key suppliers have measured their emissions and set Net Zero or reduction targets.

Step 4: Track progress and reassess annually

Review progress regularly and update your approach each year. This may include tracking how many suppliers have disclosed emissions, committed to science based targets, or demonstrated progress toward Net Zero.

Supplier engagement targets should be refreshed annually, with focus shifting toward suppliers that represent the largest emissions or greatest risk.

Important note on supplier emissions factors and monitoring

Trace does not actively monitor supplier emissions or commitments and we do not use supplier specific emissions factors within our calculations. This is due to the inconsistency of supplier disclosures, differences in scope, and the challenge of comparing disparate data sets on a like for like basis.

While supplier specific emissions factors can improve accuracy in some cases, what matters most for effective supplier engagement is whether a supplier has credible external commitments and is making measurable progress. In many cases, industry average emissions factors provide a more consistent and comparable baseline.

For example, a supplier like Amazon delivers cloud services, retail operations and advertising through a single organisation. Using a single emissions factor per dollar spent can be misleading when compared to a more narrowly defined industry average, as the underlying activities and emissions intensity vary significantly across those services. What matter more is whether Amazon has a Net Zero target and is demonstrating emission reduction over time.

To support practical decision making, Trace offers a supplier audit service that helps you assess the climate commitments and Net Zero trajectory of your top 10 or 20 suppliers. This provides a clear view of supplier maturity and risk without relying on inconsistent emissions factors. Pricing is available on request.

If you would like to learn more about supplier engagement services or supplier audits, contact the Trace team at support@our-trace.com.