Amid the lush greenery of the Singapore Botanic Gardens, DHL and National University of Singapore (NUS) launched the S$3 million Sustainable Supply Chain Centre of Asia Pacific (SSCCAP). A first for the region, the centre will be a best practice hub and intellectual property engine to drive sustainable supply chain development in the Asia Pacific region.

Building on DHL’s global GoGreen environmental protection programme, its own sustainable supply chain expertise and its global GoGreen customer solutions, the centre will create practical business tools for the industry to establish benchmarks in areas of sustainable logistics solutions, involving research and education.

“Given the projections for supply chain logistics growth in the region, there is a need for an Asian focus on sustainability,” said DHL Supply Chain Asia Pacific CEO Paul Graham. “The SSCCAP will meet that need by leveraging DHL’s sustainability bestpractices at its foundation. As a leading logistics company, DHL sets industrystandards with its Group-wide GoGreenclimate protection program, whichaims to improve the company’s carbonefficiency.

Through high-level research, surveys, conferences and forums, the centre will create new tools, best practices and know-how that will put the region at the leading edge of innovative sustainability practices,” he said.

Opening in July 2010, the SSCCAP will be hosted at The Logistics Institute – Asia Pacific at the National University of Singapore. The Logistics Institute has a strong reputation in the industry and has established solid industry and customer links. While initially co-funded, the SSCCAP will be self-sustaining in the long term through the provision of events and practical solutions for the logistics industry.

Professor Tan Eng Chye, provost and deputy president, National University of Singapore, said: “We have enjoyed a long and fruitful partnership with DHL, and we work together by hosting DHL’s ‘Emerging Leaders’ Program. The centre shows a united commitment to investing in new technology and innovation, with Singapore as a ‘Living Lab’ to develop best practices in sustainable supply chain management – an approach we are successfully using in several industries.”

“The intellectual capital and tools developed by the centre will help companies throughout the region to re-think and execute more sustainable supply chain solutions in Asia and globally,” said Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), director for logistics, Kelvin Wong.

The SSCCAP will have seven full-time employees and be steered by a tri-partite committee comprising representatives from DHL, NUS, EDB and industry partners from Accenture and Dell. As well as strengthening access to grants and extending frameworks to support sustainable supply chain innovation, its mission is to imbed sustainability in tertiary supply chain management curriculums both in Singapore and the Asia Pacific.