Candex’s ESG Approach
At Candex, we enable corporate partners of all sizes to engage and transact quickly, seamlessly, and securely. We are driven by a commitment to not only increase the speed and efficiency of corporate engagements, but to do so in a way that promotes sustainability, inclusiveness, and compliance. We demonstrate these values in our corporate structure and initiatives, and through our client offerings.
Frameworks & Assessments
We leverage reporting frameworks, such as GHG Protocol and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and engage with third-party assessment platforms, including EcoVadis and CDP, to ensure our ESG efforts are measurable and effective.
These frameworks and assessments help us integrate ESG strategies into our operations, enhancing our accountability and positioning us as proactive participants in the global sustainability movement. This is reflected in our most recent EcoVadis Silver and SME B CDP ratings.
Environment
As a streamlined, digital company, Candex is able to strategically limit our use of non-renewable resources and our carbon footprint. Though we operate globally, we limit our office space and travel, leveraging technology and a digital workspace to minimize our carbon footprint.
We host the full Candex Platform on cloud-based server space. We proactively identified providers who are focused on leveraging renewable sources of energy and are carbon neutral, with plans to be net-zero in the identifiable future. In addition, our primary server partner powers the cloud servers we use entirely with renewable energy.
But sustainability is not just about carbon emissions. It is also about addressing resource depletion, preserving biodiversity, and limiting pollution. Candex was founded with a digital-first philosophy. This extends not only to our SaaS application, but also to the way we operate our business, which includes eliminating needless use of paper and other resources through entirely electronic purchase order submission and invoicing. In our own workspaces, we promote recycling and reduce waste, including reusing and recycling all products whenever possible, including technology, equipment, and office waste.
Governance & Ethics
Candex supports our clients’ responsible business practices, operating within a fully-automated procure-to-pay (P2P) process, while providing full transparency, auditability, and tracking of spend with all vendors, even one-off contracts and small vendors, engaged via the Candex platform. When it is easy to get approved purchase orders, business users are more likely to comply with the P2P process, wherein all payments are based on receipt of a proper invoice tied back to that purchase order authorization.
Our independent Board of Directors elects corporate officers, advises the executive leadership team, and provides strategic oversight while monitoring Candex’s performance. The Board provides guidance and counsel to our Chief Executive Officer and oversees our programs and services to prevent and detect violations of law, regulation, or our internal policies and procedures. To this end, each Candex quarterly Board meeting allocates time for compliance reviews.
With Board oversight, our executive leadership team has built a robust compliance infrastructure to support our culture of integrity and accountability. We maintain and perform company-wide annual training on our compliance policies, including <strong>Code of Conduct, Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Fraud</strong>, and <strong>Anti-Corruption.</strong> Among other things, our Code of Conduct sets out clear guidelines around conflicts of interest, confidentiality and privacy, gifts and entertainment, compliance reporting, and non-retaliation.
Data Privacy & Information Security
We have invested significant resources in a best-in-class information security and data privacy team and framework, led by our CISO and Global Data Protection Officer. Our robust programs are confirmed by our SOC 2 Type II attestation and ISO 27001 certification maintenance.
Candex has implemented a robust and comprehensive global privacy program based on the principles of privacy by design, accountability, and transparency. We regularly assess and update our program to meet the requirements of emerging privacy laws and regulations across the world, as well as to keep up with rapid advancements in technology and new business initiatives.
Our information security program is designed to ensure the security of all data processed by the entirety of the Candex Platform and its components.
Empowering our Clients’ ESG Programs
As a technology-based master vendor, we help our clients meet their sustainable, social, and ethical sourcing goals through innovative digital solutions. Our platform streamlines processes and enhances efficiency, enabling clients to focus on their core ESG objectives.
Environment
Candex helps our clients with their sustainability goals through the speed and efficiency of our fully digital, SaaS solution platform. Using Candex, corporate buyers can quickly and digitally onboard smaller, local vendors without manual, paper-based setup processes. This not only supports local communities, but also reduces unnecessary travel, transportation, and paper waste. In addition, by eliminating needless vendor onboarding and helping our clients reduce their vendor master, Candex enables our clients to reduce or reallocate their internal resources to focus on sustainability.
Social
Candex facilitates more opportunities for our clients to engage small- and socioeconomic- categorized businesses (“Small Suppliers”) and grow their own supplier diversity programs. As the master vendor, Candex is the vendor-of-record for invoicing and accounting purposes so large enterprises do not need to onboard individual Small Suppliers. This results in a much faster, easier process for Small Suppliers to engage with and get paid by large companies. At the same time, large enterprises get transparency and oversight over their Small Suppliers engaged through Candex without overly burdensome setup processes.
Candex also supports our clients in critical efforts around human rights and ethical sourcing of materials by facilitating detailed questionnaires, checkboxes, and transparent, real-time reporting on these topics. For example, with Candex, our clients can ensure that all vendors - not just strategic vendors - validate their compliance with Modern Slavery Acts (UK; ASTL), the Supply Chain Act (DE), and other domestic and international laws and regulations, and make trackable attestations regarding conflict minerals and more broadly certify the appropriate sourcing of raw materials included in their products.
Governance & Ethics
Candex supports our clients’ responsible business practices, operating within a fully-automated procure-to-pay (P2P) process, while providing full transparency, auditability, and tracking of spend with all vendors, even one-off contracts and small vendors, engaged via the Candex platform. When it is easy to get approved purchase orders, business users are more likely to comply with the P2P process, wherein all payments are based on receipt of a proper invoice tied back to that purchase order authorization.