1. Develop a Sustainable Procurement policy
Write your policy by moving through the following self-assessments:
- Identify your starting point.
What is your organisation’s current sustainable purchasing profile? What are the impacts and risks of its current activities, products, supply chain structure and carbon footprint?
- Define improvement areas and develop a strategy.
Identify the most significant procurement categories, set measurable objectives and build an action plan.
- Redesign your purchasing process.
Set environmental, health and social impact criteria, set sustainable choice criteria in the suppliers’ offers analysis, and motivate suppliers to innovate eg. green transport, packaging, product traceability, etc.
- Link your new policy to your organisation’s existing policies.
Ensure your new policy will be in harmony with your organisation’s current stated approach. If they are contradictory, they will create confusion and inefficiency which will lead to their abandonment in favour of the existing policies.