Responsible
Procurement
at UCB

We recognize that we have the moral responsibility and social obligation to make decisions that guarantee both human and environmental health. We have a key role to play to ensure a sustainable future for all.

We aim to procure goods and services that generate benefits not only for UCB, but also for the patients who need our solutions, the communities where we operate, society and the planet.

To bring this ambition to life, we engage with our suppliers and integrate requirements, specifications and criteria that are compatible with our Health of the Planet Strategy / our environmental sustainability program and our commitments to human rights, ethical behaviors and diversity and inclusion.

UCB prioritizes strict adherence to international trade laws, including customs and export control regulations. We ensure compliance with all relevant export laws and extraterritorial controls, addressing any non-compliance with established procedural controls. Our business partners are expected to follow all laws related to dual-use goods, anti-boycotting, sanctions, and embargoes, and must secure necessary export licenses for transactions with embargoed countries or sanctioned entities.
 

We continue to make significant internal changes and adjusting our processes to further reduce our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in line with our validated targets by the SBTi and our larger environmental sustainability program. These targets also include our suppliers: our objective is that by 2025, 60% of the GHG emissions created by our suppliers will be covered by science-based targets.

To achieve this, UCB is engaging with its suppliers, encouraging them to reduce their own GHG emissions following the guidelines of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and set ambitious climate targets. For this purpose, UCB has developed an internal methodology to measure the ‘Carbon Maturity’ of a supplier (i.e., where are they in their journey towards net-zero).

The Supplier Carbon Maturity Level influences our decision-making, business development and guides our supplier engagement. For example, only a supplier with a Level A or Level B can be a preferred vendor.

As part of our ongoing efforts to drive a positive environmental impact, we are introducing a non-financial recognition program for our valuable partners. 

Our suppliers play a key role in UCB achieving its own environmental targets, concretely, the reduction of Scope 3 GHG emissions and compliance with our EcoVadis program.

Through this initiative, UCB aims to recognize suppliers that demonstrate ambitious climate targets in line with science and integrate sustainability practices in their own operations. 

We are recognizing suppliers in two categories: 

To acknowledge the effort of suppliers committing to the Science Based Target initiative and achieving an EcoVadis score above 55/100 on all themes.

To acknowledge the effort of suppliers meeting the above milestones in a short period of time. 
 

We have partnered with EcoVadis to integrate a supplier assessment on environmental, societal and governance (ESG) practices/aspects. We also support suppliers building up their own sustainability capabilities and provide guidance on how they can improve.

We aim for the suppliers in scope of this ESG assessment to reach a minimum score of 45/100 on each theme covered by EcoVadis: environment, human & labor rights, ethics, and sustainable procurement. The EcoVadis score (or other accepted ESG rating obtained by a supplier) is used by UCB when evaluating a potential supplier and for risk management purposes.

As a UCB supplier, you can register on EcoVadis and share your scorecard through our dedicated page: