IMPLEMENTATION
TECHNOLOGY
IMPLEMENTATION OF SUSTAINABLE procurement practices is growing as companies add both depth and scale , but these efforts may not be sufficient to protect against reputational risks from dodgy suppliers , according to a new report by specialist EcoVadis .
The French firm has partnered with academic institution HEC Paris to produce the Sustainable Procurement Barometer . First published a decade ago , the study measures the evolution of sustainable procurement practices in global procurement organisations .
The 2017 edition , the first since 2013 , shows such practices – essentially using sustainable products from responsible suppliers – have now progressed into what Pierre Francois Thaler , EcoVadis Chief Executive and Co-founder , describes as adolescence , with many organisations expanding their programs to achieve a big increase in coverage .
“ What we ’ ve seen evolving is mainly the scale and the depth of what companies are doing ,” said Thaler .
“ In terms of depth , companies are getting better at integrating this new dimension into their procurement processes so it ’ s now more part of the tendering and verification processes .
“ In terms of scale , you had examples of companies doing really good things but only on , say , 5 % of their suppliers , while other companies would say ‘ we are doing something , we are sending a code of conduct to our suppliers ,’ but that was it .”
IMPLEMENTATION
The research reveals a large gap between the leaders in sustainable procurement , which constitutes around a fifth of the top 500 global companies , and most other businesses , where implementation remains shallow .
“ If you take the top 5,000 companies in Europe and the US , what 50-70 % do is really limited such as having a couple of suppliers signing questionnaires or a code of conduct , rather than really embedding it into their procurement processes ,” says Thaler .
Companies continue to cite cost savings , compliance , and
26 October 2017