Sustainable procurement is the integration of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) principles into your company’s procurement processes and decisions while ensuring they still meet the requirements of your stakeholders. To be successful in your sustainable procurement journey, it is recommended to:
Then to have a relevant impact, the conventional procurement process needs to be enhanced with sustainability-related activities:
Internal Spending & Market Analysis: In addition to the "standard" activities, it is necessary to ensure sustainability transparency throughout the supply chain (tier 1, tier 2, etc.), assess supplier sustainability, define sustainability targets by category and qualify sustainable suppliers.
Tender management: This should include incorporating sustainability questionnaires and assessments into tender documents, as well as analysing and validating suppliers based on their sustainability maturity.
ESG screening & ESG assessments: ESG screening is applicable or new suppliers at the pre-qualification step. For existing suppliers, it is recommended to conduct ESG assessments (in house, EcoVadis). The objective is to measure the integration levels of environmental, social and governance sustainability principles in the organisation's strategies, policies, and activities of your suppliers.
Negotiation & contract awarding: Sustainability targets should be included in supplier negotiations, sustainability performance should be considered in supplier selection, and sustainability key performance indicators (KPIs) should be included in contracts.
Implementation: Once supplier selection has been communicated, ERP systems (suppliers, prices, products/services) updated and operational implementation initiated, it is crucial to monitor sustainability performance through regular audits. This should be integrated into the supplier evaluation process.
ISO 20400:2017, titled "Sustainable Procurement - Guidance," is an international standard issued by the International Organization for Standardization that provides organizations with a framework to integrate sustainability into their procurement processes.
51%
of global businesses have existing sustainable procurement policies and practices which contributes to the resilience of their value chains.
(Stanford Business School - 2023)
48%
of Global Companies experience pressure to embrace greener procurement processes.
(procurement tactics - 2023)
- How to write a sustainable procurement policy
- in 2024, Singapore's National Sustainable Procurement Roundtable published a supplier's guide to sustainability, which provides comprehensive sustainability principles and guidelines for implementation in procurement.
ECOCERT is pioneer and a world leader in the Certification of organic and sustainable products in the agri-food, cosmetics and textile industries. Through its consulting and training expertise, ECOCERT can also assist stakeholders in the implementation and promotion of sustainable practices, especially with the de-risking of their supply chain.
With operating capabilities in 130 countries and with 2200 employees, ECOCERT global footprint helps companies with consistent high-quality services all over the world.
EcoVadis rates more than 100,000 businesses on their sustainability performance, which helps improve the sustainability performance of global supply chains.
Givvable is an automated data platform that helps organisations understand the sustainability profile of their suppliers and supply chain. It captures, tracks and reports on the credentials of suppliers, that are the strongest indicators of whether a supplier is taking action on sustainability. Givvable covers local to global and SME to MNC suppliers, ensuring it has the widest coverage of supplier sustainability data globally.
Givvable will help you:
We help Brands quit plastic: TRULY sustainable packaging sourcing and consultancy.
South Pole has been at the forefront of decarbonization since 2006, developing and implementing comprehensive strategies that turn climate action into long-term business opportunities for Fortune 500 companies, governments and organizations around the world.
South Pole is more than a consultancy, its team of 1,200+ experts have developed projects, as well as designed innovative tools across finance, climate neutral APIs, and carbon offset solutions to help clients reach their carbon mitigation and Net Zero goals.
To date South Pole has worked with over 1,000 clients, and will soon have developed 800 offset projects across 30 offices globally.
Our solutions have created tens of thousands of jobs in developing countries, hundreds of millions of dollars for business, improved brand value and better living and working conditions for countless people in vulnerable communities around the world.
🌏 What if sustainability became the norm in business, rather than a nice to have? That's our mission: using Technology, we simplify sustainability for organizations by making it more accessible, transparent and measurable.
We are building the first wholesale marketplace for sustainable products, connecting verified sustainable suppliers, manufacturers and brands.
✅ For brands, we offer uncompromising accessibility to all the sustainable products you need for your business. TEORRA rigorously vets all suppliers, so you as a buyer have absolute confidence and trust in the sustainable vendors you introduce to your supply chain; all while helping you measure your businesses impact as a result of choosing sustainable products.
✅ For suppliers, we help eliminate competition with conventional products by providing you with a marketplace specifically designed to servicing buyers looking for sustainable options. We make it easy for your business to attract new customers while helping you grow your brand globally.