As a procurement professional, it is crucial to understand the significance and advantages of sustainable procurement. Sustainable procurement involves making environmentally conscious decisions throughout the entire procurement process, taking into consideration the environmental, social, and economic consequences of various aspects such as design, material use, processes, transportation, logistics, and disposal.
Responsible Procurement – Assuring the use of ethical sources of goods and services where a firm does business to bring about a positive impact and minimize the negative impact on societies and environments – including the reduce, reuse, and recycle of materials.
Benefits of Sustainable Procurement
There are many benefits to an organization for pursuing sustainable business practices.
Below are some that pertain specifically to procurement, both internally and for the supplier base:
1. Improved performance in reuse, recycling and waste management
2. Reductions in supply chain risk through security of supply and increased mitigation using sustainability principles Fostering of increased loyalty and improved relationships with suppliers, contractors, and customers
3. Increased worker productivity and encouragement of innovation due to a focus on workplace and employee issues
4. Practical demonstration to the global community of the organization’s commitment to sustainability
When it comes to making purchasing decisions and selecting suppliers, it’s crucial to consider how these choices can affect a company’s reputation and brand image. Stakeholders and customers form opinions based on how they perceive a company’s behavior. To prevent any negative impacts, procurement should prioritize finding and sourcing from suppliers who share the same ethical and sustainability standards as the buying organization.