The reinforcement and maximization of impacts from corporate sustainable development depend on inter-connections and cooperation throughout the entire value chain.

GIGABYTE reinforces the engagement and communication with our supply chain through a variety of channels such as evaluations, awards, education and training, and alliances. We strive to build a partnership beyond trade relations and realize the core philosophy of “Reduction. Sharing. Love the Earth” hand in hand.

4-Step Approach to Supply Chain Engagement

The first step in supply chain engagement is the supply chain management strategy and risk management. The three following steps of “Supplier Sustainability Award”, “Reduction. Sharing. Love the Earth Alliance” and “Supplier Conference” will help us refine the management and promotion of supply chain sustainability.

Step 1: Supply Chain Policy and Risk Management

Please refer to Supply Chain Management.

Step 2: Supplier Sustainability Award

GIGABYTE’s Supplier Sustainability Evaluation process starts with suppliers self-evaluating their implementation performance in 6 major aspects: CSR management, CSR protection, human rights of labor, fair trade, supplier responsibility, and social/local contribution. Afterward, the Supplier Evaluation Team from the Sustainable Development Office conducts fair selection based on 4 major aspects: completeness, rationality, the level of cognition, and the level of attention. The suppliers with better scores would be publicly awarded the Excellent Partner Award at the supplier’s year-end party. Besides, the attendance rate of the top 100 suppliers also shows the extent of close collaboration between GIGABYTE and the supply chain partners. We will continue to increase the ratio in the future to make suppliers have more incentives in carrying out sustainability and therefore construct a sustainable supply chain.

0%
of GIGABYTE’s purchasing expenditure was from the suppliers participating in the Supplier Sustainability Evaluation in 2023.

In addition to the awards, we also use purchasing to encourage CSR fulfillment by suppliers. We will continue to increase our purchasing ratio in the future to give suppliers even more incentive to embrace sustainability and construct a self-sustaining supply chain.

The Themes of End-of-year Suppler Party and Supplier Sustainability Award Ceremony over the Years

Step 3: Reduction. Sharing. Love the Earth Alliance

GIGABYTE launched the “333 Reduction Plan” in 2016 and set a target of reducing carbon emissions, water use, and waste by 3% every year. We also invested in tree planting and afforestation to conserve the biodiversity of the earth. At the same time, we invited all of our suppliers to join the “Reduction. Sharing. Love the Earth Alliance” and reach the “333 Reduction” targets together with GIGABYTE. We also expect that the suppliers with significant reduction performance could share their experiences with others to stimulate peer learning and achieve general reductions across the entire supply chain.

Status of “Reduction. Sharing. Love the Earth Alliance” Reduction Performance

After the Alliance was established, GIGABYTE started to investigate the efforts to reduce carbon emissions, water use, and waste by each Alliance member in 2018. Every effort made was to practice the Alliance’s core value of reduction. Furthermore, with an outline of the overall reduction trends, we can then develop a more practical strategy for the future. In 2023, we tracked the reduction statistics from the previous year (2022) of 52 companies, including partner advocates and GIGABYTE itself, and the number of companies that met the 3% targets in 2022 compared to previous years is as follows.

Explanation of Reduction Performance Status
  • The statistics showed that approximately 60% of investigated companies met the carbon reduction target, and nearly 50% met the water and waste reduction targets. The measures to reach targets included establishing environment policies, setting concrete targets and timetable for reduction measures, and implement innovative sustainability-related programs. To be more specific, emission reduction actions taken by most of the suppliers are such as using renewable energy, carrying out sustainable procurement, monitoring the energy efficiency of equipment, and replacing old and energy-consuming facilities; the water use reduction actions involve water recycling and intelligent water monitoring; the waste reductions are realized by reducing packaging, managing manufacturing processes through a product lifecycle’s perspective, adjusting parameters to reduce solvent use, etc. In addition, many suppliers actively promote sustainability concepts as part of their corporate DNA and hope that every employee will serve as a guardian of sustainability risks.

  • The suppliers who failed to meet the targets all saw an increase of more than 3% in their overall carbon emissions, water usage, and waste. GIGABYTE will continue strengthening the Alliance’s reduction performance by sharing good practices and appropriate methodologies through supplier conferences, education and training, and digital management tools.

Step 4: Supplier Conference and Sustainability Practice Training

GIGABYTE has held Supplier Conferences since 2009 which invites multiple pioneers in sustainability to share their experiences as well as ESG tendency and practical measures with our suppliers, CSR-related personnel, and manager-level employees. We will continue to ramp up our marketing efforts to establish sustainability know-how among our supplier partners.

Objectives of Supplier Conference in Recent Years

Supplier Sustainability Education and Training

2023 Consultation on Emission Hot Spot Assessments and Energy Saving Measures

136 participants from 10 suppliers

GIGABYTE’s upstream supply chain has a carbon footprint approximately 50 times that of its operations, according to the latest greenhouse gas inventory. With the global net-zero tendency and carbon tariff mechanism in place, GIGABYTE and its suppliers need to cooperate and share environmental data, material selection, and carbon reduction technology in order to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy and reduce trading costs.

In 2023, GIGABYTE launched the “Intelligent Circular and Low-Carbon Supply Chain Management Project” with the aim of developing high-value and low-carbon manufacturing processes, introducing recycling technology, and establishing a sustainable supply carbon management platform. Initially, we selected ten suppliers of high-carbon intensity components to provide consultation on emission inventory, target setting, and reduction strategies. Through its large company resources, GIGABYTE hopes to strengthen the carbon management capabilities of small suppliers.

Jun 23 & Jul 21, 2022, Greenhouse Gas Inventory Training

86 partners from 47 companies participated

GIGABYTE endeavors to lead suppliers and partners on the road to sustainable development. In 2022, 2 sessions of greenhouse gas inventory training were held with key suppliers as the core training target. The course provided common-use tools, examples, and helpful resources for greenhouse gas inventory. GIGABYTE plans to progressively provide training in product carbon footprint inventory and information regarding material emission databases, aiming to grow together with suppliers and reach the target of the 333 Reduction Plan. Ultimately, this will contribute to integrating with operations and building a low-carbon and resilient supply chain.