Prioritising Sustainable Procurement
Igniting positive change across business and beyond, sustainable procurement has become a critical initiative for forward-thinking organisations. Conventional procurement delivers value by strengthening organisations through the purchase and use of goods and services. Sustainable procurement goes further by expanding an organisation’s positive impacts to local economies, protecting people, and the environment. As explained by the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council (SPLC), these additional benefits are fully realised when that organisation is purchasing the most sustainable goods and services from the most sustainable suppliers in alignment with the organisation’s sustainability goals and initiatives.
Where to Begin?
PRIORITISE!
Prioritisation is essential when building a strategic sustainable procurement program. It sets the foundation for success by guiding your team to focus on the most critical impacts and opportunities. Aligning with existing initiatives, targeting high-impact suppliers, and identifying relevant activities help prioritise efforts as you develop your plan.
1. Align With Organisational Initiatives: Get in the Game
Understanding your organisation’s sustainability and procurement initiatives is key to prioritising and building a strategic sustainable procurement program. Take the time to review your company’s ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) reports and any publicly shared goals. This will provide you with insights into the values of your organisation and specific impacts and opportunities that it is already prioritising. But, don’t stop there. Identify the existing procurement goals that your sustainability efforts could further advance. For example, reducing costs is often a strategic priority in procurement. Purchasing energy-efficient, climate-friendly refrigerators exemplifies sustainable procurement by simultaneously lowering energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions. It’s a win-win!
Aligning your sustainable procurement program with your organisation’s existing ESG and procurement initiatives and goals ensures that your efforts are contributing to what your CPO and C-suite executives are already prioritising for the organisation. This helps justify your efforts and free up resources to drive measurable impact through purchasing.
2. Prepare for Supplier Engagement: Target High-Impact Products and Services
After understanding existing initiatives, identify the products, services, and suppliers that drive most of your spend’s sustainability impacts.
In a perfect world, everything you purchase would have a third-party certified sustainability label associated with it to ensure it was produced responsibly by a sustainably-managed organisation. Indeed, such labels exist and non-profits such as the Global Ecolabel Network provide lists for consideration.
However, sustainability labels are not yet typically available for most of an organisation’s spend. In their absence, SPLC recommends identifying key categories and suppliers for sustainable purchasing by prioritising areas where you spend the most. Guidance from sustainability NGOs such as the GHG Protocol suggest using this approach to get started while building out more advanced methods in parallel to taking action. Most organisations already have their spend data readily available. This spend often concentrates on a manageable number of suppliers, ideal for a first phase. Once engaged with these suppliers, you may find that some of them are further along in understanding their supply chain sustainability impacts than you are! Learn from their successes as you progress into more advanced impact prioritisation methods such as spend-based GHG lifecycle assessments and disparity studies.
3. Build on Success: Support and Amplify Existing Activities
You have now narrowed the scope of your sustainable procurement program to focus on specific suppliers and categories in alignment with your organisation’s initiatives. How do you prioritise next steps?
Balance long-term plans by supporting aligned activities, engaging stakeholders, and building momentum to set the stage for larger actions.
Remember that with the right organisational support and motivated team, even small grass-roots initiatives can turn into meaningful positive results that can demonstrate and garner support for larger sustainable procurement investment.
Conclusion: Building a Strong Foundation for Sustainable Procurement
Whether you’re just getting started or looking to reinvigorate efforts, building a successful strategic sustainable procurement program must first start with prioritisation. Recognising a multi-faceted approach that involves organisational alignment, identifying high-impact spend, and empowering relevant existing activities to do more will ensure the program’s success – paving the way for large-scale “net zero” responsible sourcing and a healthier planet for future generations.
This article was written by Katie Saha, Senior Manager of Learning & Partner Engagement, SPLC and Kris Spriano, Vice President of Programs, SPLC.
Katie will be joining The Faculty Roundtable Program in 2025 to lead the IMPACT! course. This module will provide members with a strategic approach to designing a sustainable procurement program, guiding participants in setting long-term visions and identifying key focus areas. If you’re a Faculty Roundtable member, sign up for the course now.
