What are the main challenges and opportunities for green procurement in your industry or sector?

1 Why green procurement matters

Green procurement is not only a moral duty, but also a competitive advantage. By choosing eco-friendly options, you can save money on energy, water, waste, and materials, as well as avoid fines, penalties, and lawsuits for environmental violations. You can also enhance your brand image, customer loyalty, and employee satisfaction by demonstrating your commitment to social responsibility and innovation. Moreover, you can align your operations with the global trends and standards of sustainability, such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement, and the Circular Economy.

2 How to assess your environmental impact

Before you can implement green procurement, you need to understand your current environmental performance and identify the areas where you can improve. You can use tools such as life cycle assessment, carbon footprint, and eco-labels to measure and compare the environmental impacts of different products and services along their entire life cycle, from extraction to disposal. You can also benchmark your performance against your competitors, industry best practices, and customer expectations. This will help you set realistic and measurable goals and targets for your green procurement strategy.

3 How to select green suppliers

One of the key elements of green procurement is choosing suppliers that share your sustainability vision and values. You can use criteria such as environmental management systems, certifications, policies, practices, and reporting to evaluate and select potential suppliers. You can also conduct audits, surveys, and interviews to verify their compliance and performance. However, selecting green suppliers is not enough. You also need to establish long-term relationships and partnerships with them, based on trust, collaboration, and mutual benefits.

5 How to monitor and evaluate green procurement

Monitoring and evaluating green procurement is essential to track your progress, identify gaps and opportunities, and demonstrate your results and impacts. You can use indicators such as cost savings, waste reduction, emissions reduction, resource efficiency, customer satisfaction, and supplier satisfaction to measure and report your performance. You can also use tools such as dashboards, scorecards, and reports to communicate your achievements and challenges to your stakeholders, such as management, employees, customers, investors, and regulators. Moreover, you can use the feedback and data you collect to review and improve your green procurement strategy.

6 How to overcome green procurement barriers

Green procurement can face some barriers and challenges, such as lack of awareness, knowledge, skills, or resources, resistance to change, conflicting priorities, or market limitations. You can overcome these barriers by creating a strong business case for green procurement, showing the benefits and opportunities it can bring to your industry or sector. You can also foster a culture of sustainability, leadership, and collaboration within your organization and with your suppliers, encouraging innovation and learning. Furthermore, you can leverage external support and networks, such as industry associations, NGOs, or government agencies, that can provide guidance, funding, or recognition for your green procurement efforts.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?