Bridging the gap between sustainability and procurement

Greenstone and Ardea International were recently invited to run a workshop on sustainable procurement at the eWorld Procurement & Supply conference in London. The eWorld conference is a key event for senior procurement and supply chain professionals providing insight into the latest innovations and technologies.

The title of the workshop was ‘Bridging the Gap between Sustainability and Procurement’. The aim of the workshop was to discuss the changing procurement landscape in relation to sustainability, share knowledge on integrating sustainability into procurement frameworks and to identify practical steps to solve common challenges in adopting more sustainable procurement practices.

One of the immediate insights from the session was the evolution of the participant’s awareness and engagement with sustainability from a similar workshop two years earlier. Two years ago there was an acceptance that sustainability was something that procurement professionals knew was ‘coming’ and that they would be asked to ‘do’.

In the most recent session nearly two thirds of the attendees worked for organisations who were currently integrating sustainability into their procurement framework, and the majority of these people were also the ones responsible for this integration. However, not only is the job role changing for procurement professionals but there was also an energy and desire to embrace sustainability.

In this 2-part blog, we outline some of the themes and insights we took away from the workshop.

What does sustainable procurement mean to your organisation?

The workshop started with discussing what sustainable procurement means to people in the room. This was a lively discussion and it was clear that there were differing definitions and understandings of sustainable procurement. However, within any organisation it is important that you understand exactly what it is you want to achieve and why, before you can think about how you might get there.

Environmental factors initially dominated people’s definitions, with life cycle assessments of products being mooted as a means to sourcing more sustainably. However, a clear understanding evolved amongst participants that sustainable procurement goes beyond the environmental performance of suppliers and products, and should include social and ethical considerations as well.

This ranged from buyers defining how suppliers need to operate through codes of conduct, to being able to influence the ethical practices of suppliers down through the supply chain. For example, the rights that workers are afforded, the treatment of women and children in the workplace and the commitment of buyer to the communities in which suppliers operate,

Lastly, there was a recognition that in order to operate more sustainably you need to foster a collaborative relationship with suppliers, and to make these relationships last longer by focussing on long term benefits and long term KPIs.

In part two of this blog, we will outline the key challenges faced when integrating sustainability into procurement and the potential solutions.

Sustainable Procurement Resources

Greenstone provides software and services that enable sustainable procurement and responsible supply chains. Greenstone’s SupplierPortal Software as a Service (SaaS) solution provides your business with a single point of transparency across your supplier network, ensuring that compliance, performance, and risk can be managed seamlessly.

Ardea International provides advice and support to organisations on  how to integrate modern slavery risk into their procurement framework  and to develop sustainable procurement policies and due diligence processes.

Ardea International is running a workshop in London on 7 November on how to integrate modern slavery risk into sustainable procurement.

Colleen Thereon, Ardea International, has written a book on ‘Strategic Sustainable Procurement: law and best practice for public and private sectors’.