Beyond purchasing

32 It’s not easy being green | Section V
Section V. It’s not easy being green
Almost everyone interviewed for this study noted that
sustainability — in particular its environmental aspects —
was a rapidly growing concern for procurement. Paul
Snow, Vice President, Procurement, High Liner Foods,
notes that “two years ago sustainability wasn’t on the top
of our radar list. It is much more important today.”
Not only are consumers expecting it, a seafood company obviously must ensure a
sustainable supply of its products. Dominique Gardy, Chief Procurement Officer
Shell International, adds that such considerations are “critical, especially in certain
parts of the world.”
Our survey shows that
sustainability is starting to
have an impact:
• 43 percent of organizations have started,
or are working on, introducing social,
ethical, and human rights considerations
into procurement decisions. Another 28
percent are considering doing so.
• 33 percent have begun, or are in the
processes of starting to, reduce the
environmental impact of products by
working with suppliers. In this case,
a further 31 percent are considering
doing so.
• 42 percent regularly evaluate suppliers
on environmental and human rights
performance.
The broader impact of such change in
practice is less clear. When presented
with a list of ten supplier attributes,
those surveyed considered —
predictably and understandably —
quality, price, and reliability as by far
the most important. The environmental
and social records of suppliers,
however, figured last, with just under a
third of companies considering them
more than moderately important, as
against 93 percent, 88 percent, and 82
percent for the three leading issues.
One reason for the low import given to
environmental and social concerns may
be that some procurement functions
use certain sustainability criteria as
initial filters rather than giving them a
significant weight in supplier
scorecards. Basil Byrne, Director of
Procurement Services, Asia­Pacific for
Nokia Siemens Networks, “before we
engage any supplier, we put them
through a detailed assessment
process, including asking a wide range
of questions about all aspects of their
business, site visits and assessments
or interviews. We’re quite confident
that this process would show up any
human rights issues. That would be a
go­or­no­go hurdle for us.” Thus, in
some cases sustainability criteria may
not seem to factor into deciding the
winner, even though they had already
done so by defining the playing field.
In not doing more here, procurement
is missing a valuable chance to align
itself with corporate strategy. There
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