Sustainable Procurement

What is Sustainable Procurement?

Sustainable procurement is about organisations considering social impact, economic and environmental factors, alongside the traditional value criteria of price and quality considerations, in its procurement strategy and procedures.

We provide sustainable procurement services for a wide range of organisations, including limited companies, schools, higher education and local government. Please call us on 0800 254 0995 or visit our contact page to find out more. To find out more about sustainable procurement, please read on!

sustainable procurement featured image

Sustainable procurement has become mainstream over the last few years as companies of all sizes and across all industry sectors have begun to develop their carbon reduction plans and set corporate social responsibility (CSR) objectives.

Examples of sustainable procurement include environmental legal compliance and target setting, the removal of hazardous materials, waste and carbon emissions across the supply chain, and thorough vetting of suppliers for fair labour practises.

Why does Sustainable Procurement Matter?

Those organisations investing the most in sustainable procurement and ethical procurement processes understand the importance of demonstrating to their stakeholders – customers, staff, shareholders, local communities – that they are setting ambitious net zero targets and have a plan to reach these targets. They are building trust and reputation, which is crucial for future business success in our increasingly transparent social media-driven world.

Organisations that can evidence genuine progress in environmental and social responsibilities will be rewarded through increased customer sales, better quality supply chains, happy staff and peace of mind that they are legally compliant.

Conversely, organisations that drag their heels with regard to sustainability goals are likely to suffer in the long term through declining sales, staff retention drop-off, less attractive investment options and high levels of government taxation. As governments increasingly tighten their environmental legislation, company directors may find themselves personally liable for prosecution.

The benefits of Sustainable Procurement can be categorised across the following key areas:

  • Risk & Reputation
    A company working with suppliers or customers with unethical practices like child labour or pollution can have a serious negative financial impact on the organisation and its brand value.
  • Cost Reduction
    When done properly, sustainable procurement should also deliver cost savings for a company and its supply chains. This can mean it offers more competitive pricing to its clients compared to competitors who haven’t taken such actions. Examples include energy efficiency measures (particular in these times of historically high energy costs), on-site solar energy generation, and waste reduction.
  • Sales Revenue Growth
    Ethical consumers and corporate buyers are increasingly factoring into their buying decisions how environmentally and socially responsible the suppliers are. Public sector procurement rules have recently been adapted to require that for all tenders over a certain value threshold the bidders must provide evidence of their environmental and social responsibility plans and targets. This change in buying signal is having a major ripple effect across the supply chains.
  • Future Risk Mitigation
    Developing sustainable procurement practices enables the organisation to prove themselves against supply scarcity and changes in social, economic and environmental factors.
  • Potential suppliers
    One way that ethical buyers can demonstrate their green credentials is to source ethical, eco-friendly, sustainable products and services, thereby enabling eco supply chains to flourish and prices to fall as suppliers leverage economies of scale.

How can UK company buyers take immediate action?

To help UK company buyers to identify and procure from sustainable suppliers quickly and conveniently, we’ve set up GreenBuying.co.uk. It’s an e-commerce website set up in 2007, selling a wide range of UK-sourced eco and ethical supplies & services including:

 

Contact us to find out more about how we can help you develop your sustainable procurement practices.