Business Case

Sustainable Procurement is now a priority, with 81% of procurement directors identifying this as one of their strategic objectives.

The benefits of implementing sustainable procurement are among others:

Reduce risk of supply chain disruption (eg. suppliers’ readiness for RoHS or REACH).
Protect reputation (85% of sustainable development. issues attracting media interest are linked to suppliers)
Lower costs through collaborative actions with suppliers (eg. recycling, reduced packaging)
Facilitate access to capital and potentially increase company valuation: sustainable procurement is one the factors taken into account by CSR rating agencies and ethical funds
Provide marketing advantage when end consumers explicitly require a green and socially responsible supply chain

This is also a way to demonstrate company CSR commitment to key stakeholders:

Customers : Customers are more and more evaluating their suppliers on their capability to protect them from environmental or labour issues, several tier down the supply chain

Shareholders : Socially Responsible Investors (SRI) now screen companies' environmental & social efforts with suppliers. These funds now amount to 1 trillion € or 15% of assets under management in Europe (source Eurosif)

Employees : Company vision and values are a major contributing factor in attracting and retaining talented people, and procurement executives are increasingly sensible to the commitment of their organization to sustainable procurement practices

…and of course Suppliers, in particular SME’s, who are also concerned by sustainable development challenges but are asking more support from their customers and standardisation of demands.