U.S., Aug. 21 -- With the consumer class predicted to swell to around 1.8bn people by 2025, consumer goods companies are faced with a combined opportunity and challenge. While the number of people with increasing amounts of money to spend on consumer goods is on the rise, so is the environmental impact of humanity as a whole. Making supply chains and the procure-to-pay process more sustainable needs to be a top priority for companies that expect to capitalise on a world that is still inhabitable in 2050.

According to supply chain experts Mckinsey, consumer packaged goods companies with poor environmental and social sustainability performance can expect to experience slowed growth. "To make and sell goods, consumer businesses need afforda...