I wouldn’t put Microsoft in the top tier of leading responsible companies, but they are not that far off either. (2010’s Russia incident was a major black eye)
As a massive company with a lot of influence, though, this news is undoubtedly significant.
They look like they may have been pushed into it, and the approach outlined in the press release looks rather compliance focused.
Nevertheless, where big brands lead, others will follow.
The smartest route here, of course, is to help suppliers meet requirements, and run better businesses that deliver savings across the board.
It will be interesting to hear how and if Microsoft plan to do this.
There’s a couple of events coming up where you can meet some of the leading companies doing this kind of work.
Many of them will be in New York next week, and in London in a few weeks time.
I'm Tobias Webb, founder of Innovation Forum and Sustainable Wine. I write on this blog, with others, about areas of interest to me in supply chains, circular economy and sustainability in general. I hope you find it useful. I've worked in sustainability for about 20 years, and work with large companies, NGOs and governments all over the world. I often act as facilitator, at our conferences, and other meetings, either private or multi-stakeholder. I also work as a 'critical friend' advisor to companies on strategy and stakeholder engagement. I have a separate wine website on sustainability in wine at 
