Aligning procurement with purpose
As sustainability and ESG continues to grow in significance on the global agenda, it’s becoming increasingly important to align procurement strategy with the evolving values of shareholders, customers and employees.
Although many companies are already focused on reducing their internal carbon footprint on Scope 1 and 2, it’s important that Scope 3 supply chain decarbonization is tackled. Having a strategy to decrease emissions across the whole supply chain is essential to corporations Net Zero ambitions.
Sustainable procurement practices can both unlock supply chain decarbonization benefits and optimize supply chain impact on social, environment and economic factors. Procuring with purpose elevates your organizations’ positive impact, to address wider issues like biodiversity, inequality and discrimination, supplier diversity, and more.
Discover how you can improve your environmental, social and economic impact by adopting a more ethical and sustainable procurement strategy today.
How can Sustainable Procurement add value?
Sustainable procurement adds value to revenue and ROI whilst also driving positive change. Other ways in which it can add value include:
- Improve reputation – identify yourself as industry-leading
- Reduce supply chain waste – streamlined processes to minimize waste
- Bolster revenue growth – using innovative strategy and actions
- Futureproof your business – compliance with up to date legislation
- Carbon visibility – transparent carbon activity data
Each individual customer/business will have different views on values, aligned to their purpose, which makes each sustainable procurement approach unique.
To find out even more about how our services can benefit your business, view our offerings here.
Read on to explore:
- What does sustainable procurement mean?
- What are the benefits of good sustainable procurement?
- What can a sustainable procurement consultant advise?
- Why do you need a sustainable procurement strategy?
- How can Proxima help?
Definition of Sustainable Procurement:
Sustainable procurement is the process of businesses considering social, economic and environmental factors alongside cost and quality metrics when procuring goods and services. Traditionally, financial constraints mean businesses prioritize reducing margins and navigating industry regulations during the procurement process. Procurement with purpose means they leverage ‘procurement spend’ to address sustainability – one of the biggest issues on the planet.
What can a Sustainable Procurement Consultant offer?
Investing in a procurement professional who can help you reduce operational costs, influence sustainability performance and know the ins and outs of the technology, will drive business performance. As sustainability becomes an increasingly important focus across every industry, it’s essential to improve the impact of procurement in order to reach individual and global environmental targets and build trust with customers. Other benefits of implementing a sustainable procurement approach include:
- Risk reduction
- Cost reduction
- Increased revenue growth
- Improved industry reputation
- Future-proofed strategy
- Enhanced supplier diversity
- New business opportunities
- Increased industry compliance
- Reduced waste
- Mitigated environmental impact
Delivering ethical and sustainable procurement – The Proxima approach
Our sustainable procurement service brings together our expertise and industry best practices in order to assess, kick start and accelerate purposeful procurement for lasting positive change.
Knowing where to start is often a barrier to launching or embedding sustainable procurement practices within your organization. Our subject matter experts will work closely with you to understand your situation and needs before strategizing on how best to achieve your goals. Our sustainable procurement services include:
- Sustainable Procurement Assessment – understandrisk exposure and opportunities to drive positive change
- Sustainable Procurement Acceleration – targeted projects to inform an initial strategy or drive deeper impact
- Sustainable Procurement Transformation – embedding purpose to create sustainable procurement, supply chain and working practices
Implementing a sustainable procurement strategy works as a functional blueprint to extend your third-party spend beyond your organization’s immediate needs, while simultaneously reducing costs. At Proxima, we offer a range of services that help businesses address their other primary commercial challenges – all while improving value-creating and reputation.
FAQs
What is supply chain management and how do you achieve sustainable procurement?
Achieving your sustainable procurement vision is driven by reviewing the main aspects of acquiring products and services – including manufacturing methods, recycling options, and non-renewable material use – and identifying areas of improvement. Improvements can take the form of prioritizing ethically sourced products and ensuring labor standards are met during production processes, or working to reduce your carbon footprint while still ensuring value for money.
Why does sustainable procurement matter?
Supply chain management works by encouraging suppliers to develop and implement chains Including sustainability in procurement processes is essential in order to strengthen your organization’s reputation and in turn, build trust among target customers. In addition, implementing environmentally-conscious practices can increase opportunities for further investment and multi-stakeholder collaborations, as your organization adheres more to industry best practices and regulations.
Other benefits of prioritizing sustainable purchasing include increased brand equity and loyalty, reducing the risks associated with following bad practices.
What are the advantages of sustainable procurement?
Allowing your organization to operate sustainably is crucial as it’s becoming an increasingly significant requirement for success. As well as improving your organization’s reputation, sustainable procurement yields major advantages like reducing greenhouse gas emissions, boosting employee wellbeing, and supporting sustainable local communities.
What is the impact of sustainable procurement?
Behind every service or product your organization acquires, there should be processes in place that ensure procurement can positively impact the customers and industry you serve. Adopting economic, environmental, and social factors alongside cost and quality aspects – including compliance with environmental laws and reducing supply chain waste – will transform the way your organization operates now and in the future.
These transformations will increase your business’s reputation, finances and adherence to legislation, and have the capacity to bolster revenue growth, reduce operating costs, and attract a wider customer base.