With operations in more than 130 countries, we work with numerous suppliers of goods and services worldwide. Forging trust-based relationships with them is a critical challenge for us. Safety, respect for human rights, corporate social responsibility and environmental protection are all embedded in our DNA, and we expect our suppliers to adhere to these principles and values and to commit to them alongside us.
Our fundamental principles: dialogue and adherence to commitments
Every year, Total purchases more than €30 billion in goods and services worldwide. Fully aware of the potential economic, social and environmental impact of such expenditure, we take these factors into consideration in our supplier relationships. These are based on three key principles: dialogue, professionalism and adherence to commitments.
Dialogue is the key component in our relationships with suppliers. To facilitate day-to-day interaction, we provide our suppliers with a single point of contact within the organization. And to build balanced, long-term relationships, we work hard to ensure that the purchasing process is simple, secure and reliable, paying particular attention to compliance with contractual payment terms.
Since 2010, our Fundamental Principles of Purchasing have served as the foundation of both our purchasing process and the robust relationships we hope to forge with our suppliers. Derived from our Code of Conduct, they set out the commitments we expect from our suppliers in the following areas:
- Respecting human rights in the workplace
- Protecting people’s health, safety and security
- Preserving the environment
- Preventing corruption and conflicts of interest and fighting fraud
- Complying with competition law
- Promoting economic and social development
Consult our Fundamental Principles of Purchasing
To build a lasting responsible energy future, we expect our suppliers to adhere to and implement these ethical principles and ensure human rights-related standards and procedures are enforced, in particular with regard to their employees’ working conditions. We also expect them to ensure that their own suppliers and contractors adhere to principles equivalent to ours.
ETHICS: A CORE VALUE OF OUR PURCHASING POLICY
Total’s operations create hundreds of thousands of direct and indirect jobs around the world. Fully aware of the potential environmental and community impact of such job creation, we take these factors into consideration in our relationships with suppliers.
In addition to economic criteria (such as quality, cost and deadline), resource preservation, waste management and respect for human rights in the workplace are paramount criteria in the supplier and product selection process.
As reflected in our Fundamental Principles of Purchasing, integration into the local community is also seen as a priority. We therefore make every effort to facilitate development of the local economy in all of our host countries by purchasing goods and services from local suppliers.
