Supplier Sustainability

Two female workers wearing PPE in laboratory

We carefully select suppliers that share our commitment to continuous operational improvement, creating competitive, sustainable advantages within our supply chain.

In 2024, we invested over $7.4 billion with more than 26,000 suppliers globally to procure raw materials, indirect goods and services and transportation. Approximately 96% of greenhouse gas emissions associated with PPG's business are in the value chain, so we understand the criticality of working with supplier and customer partners. We have prioritized work with a selection of key suppliers that represent the majority of our upstream scope 3 emissions.

We work with suppliers to understand their current practices and innovate products and processes that use less energy, produce less waste and avoid negative health impacts on people throughout our value chain. By the end of 2024, we assessed 871 suppliers, representing 65% of spend, against sustainability and social responsibility criteria across environmental, labor and human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement practices. The assessment process covered 98% of PPG's key suppliers.

2030 target2024 progrees
100% of key suppliers assessed to sustainability and social responsibility criteria98% of key suppliers assessed to sustainability and social responsibility criteria

Evaluating supplier practices

Our procurement team continues to improve its approach to identifying improvement opportunities in our supply chain. We take a risk-based approach to supply chain management and focus on the industries and geographies most likely to have issues. PPG uses an external supplier screening tool to help us understand where sustainability risks are concentrated along our supply chain. In 2024, we established a performance expectation for our supply base, requiring suppliers to achieve a minimum performance score across sustainability categories.

To drive continuous improvement, our procurement team works with suppliers to implement corrective action plans based on any deficiencies identified through our digital screening tool or supplier audits. Once corrective action plans are established, category managers are responsible for monitoring implementation and tracking performance improvements. This systematic approach continues to drive strong results, as evidenced by a significant year-over-year improvement in PPG's overall score from our external supplier screening tool. This in turn creates a competitive advantage for PPG through lower carbon footprint product formulations compared to our peers.

Recognizing responsible vendors

Every year, we recognize suppliers for responsible business practices that exceed our expectations with the Excellent Supplier Awards in different categories. There was one sustainability award recipient in 2024. Our procurement, business and functional teams evaluated and awarded suppliers for competitive advantage and value, as well as sustainability.

Collaborating with our suppliers 

We proactively engage with suppliers and undertake training initiatives to help drive improved sustainability performance. Through a combination of targeted site visits and training sessions, our supplier sustainability team provides education across several key topics, including scopes 1, 2 and 3 emissions reporting, circular economy principles and mass balance concepts. These collaborative sessions extend beyond direct suppliers to include Tier 2 suppliers, helping to generate a deeper understanding of the strategic importance of sustainability across the value chain. Our team takes a constructive approach, helping suppliers identify opportunities, implement best practices and develop forward-looking improvement plans that align with PPG's sustainability goals. This educational outreach reflects PPG's commitment to building a more sustainable and transparent supply chain by establishing a foundation of knowledge.

Internal education, resourcing and oversight 

PPG's commitment to sustainable sourcing is reflected in our internal educational initiatives. New procurement employees must complete six specialized training modules within their first three months, covering a range of topics which include emerging regulations (e.g., EU Green Deal), carbon intensity, the Science Based Targets initiative and our supplier screening tool. Product stewardship and IT teams receive a condensed version of the same training modules to ensure broader organizational alignment and to foster skill development across PPG.

Our dedication to advancing supplier sustainability is further evidenced by the continued strategic investment that we have made in our sustainability team. We approved a new sustainable procurement data analyst role in 2024, dedicated to analyzing supplier performance data, tracking our scope 3 upstream emissions and helping to identify opportunities to improve our suppliers’ performance. We also established a new Supplier Sustainability Steering Committee, which will focus on identifying priority actions to further integrate sustainability into our supply chain operations, and securing the resources needed to support implementation.

For more detailed information about our approach to supplier sustainability, including our third-party due diligence and performance monitoring programs, see the bottom of this web page.

Data highlights

Average EcoVadis score of suppliers


PPG supplier average scoreEcoVadis average score
Overall63%48%
Environment68%48%
Labor and human rights63%51%
Ethics60%45%
Sustainable procurement57%39%

Supplier sustainability audits by region

RegionOn-site auditsRemote audits
Europe, Middle East and Africa440
U.S. and Canada200
Asia Pacific501
Latin America10