The Environmentally Sustainable Procurement Policy

With “greening your business” being a fashionable corporate catch cry these days I thought I would put together my thoughts on what could be involved in an environmentally sustainable procurement policy. I think it would be fairly obvious to everyone that you won’t become carbon neutral by policy issues alone, for that you will need to purchase carbon credits in some form, preferably from a reputable and certified carbon trader. I think there are lots of people buying credits for trees that will never be planted out there.

The initial steps most organisations will take in “greening up” are well covered in the media and elsewhere and include recycled paper, low energy light bulbs, water aerators on the taps, waterless fresheners in the gentleman’s urinals (yes, really – see them here), auto sleep on the photocopier, switching off all the computers and monitors, time controlled lighting, removing all those light bulbs beside the building windows that are there just for show and the like. These are all tactical responses to address specific areas within the business environment and I wholeheartedly support them.

What I wanted to address was the policy and practice around “what we buy” and “where things are sourced from” that could result in some major improvements to buying behaviour within the business.

What are you sourcing from geographically distant locations? Do you need to buy from that supplier or can you source the goods from a more local vendor to drive down carbon emissions from transport? Do you really need those exact goods or will a similar but not quite identical alternative of acceptable quality available from a closer distribution point be acceptable?

Where are the goods that we are buying originally made/sourced and how much effort has gone into transporting them to our geography in the first place? Do we really need South American cherries on the boardroom fruit platter?

Have you made a purchasing decision based purely on price rather than holistic value? Would you be willing to pay a little more to reduce the carbon cost of shipping the cheaper goods to us? What level of premium would you be comfortable with? 5%? 10%? 20%? (My swift Google based research of research suggests around 10% is the tipping point for the majority) What if you went to a more local supplier and negotiated a contract with guaranteed volumes that shared the difference between the two organisations in support of a greener outcome?

What about the overall total cost of ownership? If there is only a modest purchase cost differential and the more expensive option comes with a better warranty and maintenance package then the total lifetime of the product will be longer and time to replacement will be extended. That has a green benefit as well as a commercial one.

What products are you buying that are environmental plunder? Warning – rant approaching - My personal hobby horse here is bottled water. Since when did we need to drink water from a PET bottle in preference to a tap? Disregarding what is a ridiculous markup on the raw material – my local water supplier pipes fresh, clean and cold water to my door for $1.339 per thousand litres whilst 500mls of, for all intents and purposes, the same product in a bottle in the fridge at the local convenience store is $3.00 or more – how can it be more expensive than milk for goodness sake? – and what makes it seem like a good idea to have a fresh bottle every time we need a drink? That plastic doesn’t grow on trees you know. End of rant.

Where purchasing involves paper and wood based products have we assured that all orders are fulfilled with materials from sustainable sources? If you are getting new chairs in the boardroom do they really have to be from Indonesian old growth teak forests?

A dreaded by-product of purchasing is waste. Have you published a waste management policy that supports and encourages waste avoidance/minimisation, product reuse and materials recycling? Can you work with the building management company to improve waste recycling within the whole building if there are not already sufficient services available?

Where chemicals are used in the business can efforts be made to select bio-degradable and lesser toxic alternatives than those with the harshest agents in them?

Are there areas where commercially recycled products are available as an alternative to new? – I am thinking here of photocopier toner cartridges and the like.

When looking for ideas on where to green up the business look no further than your own workforce – send out a call for ideas and suggestions – you could well be swamped.

Is there a place in the business for a “green team”? A group of motivated individuals from throughout the business whose goal is to reduce and improve the company carbon footprint on an ongoing basis. There will be a surprising amount of people willing to volunteer for such a remit. Give them a target and make them accountable. Advertise their existence and celebrate their successes within the business (without flying in a crate of French champagne!). This volunteer responsibility should be acknowledged as career resume enhancing.

Have you communicated to your suppliers that you are interested in and have a preference for goods that can be shown to have a lower carbon footprint? Don’t expect to be able to make sensible decisions on your own – push the responsibility and motivation out to your supply chain – publish a policy that assures preference in your buying contracts to environmentally conscientious suppliers.

What about preferential agreements for suppliers that have initiated and can demonstrably display/disclose their own environmental management and waste reduction policies and programs.

Some things are not going to change easily in the business. You can’t easily cancel existing supply contracts, however you can encourage suppliers to improve their own behaviour within existing contracts.

You can’t change sourcing of critical or strategic components for the business and jeopardise your operational activities however you can urge strategic suppliers to look within their own businesses for environmental responsibility.