The Negative Environmental Impacts of Offshoring
What is Offshoring?
Offshoring is the process of a company outsourcing product production to a different continent from where it is primarily headquartered. A few traditional offshoring locations include:
The list goes on.
Why Do Companies Decide to Offshore?
Offshoring is generally considered the least expensive approach when compared to nearshoring and onshoring. This production model can be an appealing, cost-effective strategy for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). Why? In traditional offshoring countries, like those listed above, expenditures are low and talent to complete production is high.
However, companies should take cultural differences and differences in time zones into consideration when selecting an offshoring production approach. Offshoring also introduces unforeseeable shipping delays and can be detrimental in industries where quick device turnaround is crucial. Moreover, companies should understand the negative environmental impacts of offshoring.
The Negative Environment Impacts of Offshoring
The decision to offshore production brings negative environmental impact to the company’s nearshore partner and their country. The negative environmental impacts of offshoring include significantly higher carbon emissions and pollution from factory production and long-distance transport.
Pollution rises as company’s offshore production to developing, less regulated countries, and then continues to rise as these products are completed and imported back into the U.S.
In fact, CDP Worldwide reported that “supply chains are responsible for up to four times the greenhouse gas emissions of a company’s direct operations.”
Quest’s Commitment to Sustainability
Quest is dedicated to social responsibility and environmental sustainability. In 2010, Quest was certified under ISO 14001:2015, a globally recognized standard governing environmental management. This standard exists to help organizations minimize how their operations negatively affect the environment; comply with applicable laws, regulations, and other environmentally oriented requirements. This important certification is maintained through regular, third-party audits.
At Quest, we pride ourselves on continuous improvement and furthering our commitment to social responsibility—demonstrated through our active participation in the United Nations Global Compact.
The United Nations principles and global goals are in alignment with what we at Quest aim to uphold as well, including:
Finally, our team at Quest prioritizes nearshoring and onshoring as opposed to offshoring. Our team can coordinate logistics and repair services at any number of sites worldwide. This policy helps to create a consistent and predictable nearshore or onshore strategy across almost any region which is better for sustaining our planet.
Read on for more information about Quest’s Commitment to Sustainability.
MAR-917 REV 1.0
