“If buyers can change how they consider sustainability in their teams now, they can avoid longer term difficulties and build ESG into fundamental purchasing considerations”.
The growing acknowledgement of the importance of sustainability is an opportunity for procurement to make lasting, impactful change to “people, planet and profit”, speakers told delegates at the CIPS Sustainable Procurement Summit last month.
We were interested to read this recent article from Supply Management, discussing this topic (and if you missed the Summit or are interested in learning more, you can catch up on all the sessions, HERE).
Although speakers at the event acknowledged the importance of procurement, both morally and for the success of their businesses, “becoming more sustainable in the current environment of volatility, uncertainty and risk will bring difficulties“, speakers warned. In order to make effective changes, procurement teams should build their expertise and take action immediately.
Pharmaceutical manufacturer UCB’s sustainable procurement and risk lead Geert Behets emphasised the importance of simply getting started. It’s “a question of pay now or pay later”, he added – if companies do not invest in sustainability now, they will have to pay greater carbon taxes later.
So what do our own team think about this key issue for procurement?
Martin Smith, MD at Talent Drive, offers this insight;
“Sustainability and the ESG agenda are now at the core of most procurement functions decision making. I believe this will continue to grow and evolve. As the article explains ESG should be embedded into all procurement actions whether that is supplier selection or how they are actually sourcing a product or service. The carbon tax penalties for companies who don’t comply with the carbon net zero pledge are only going to be left behind, meaning larger financial penalties and more business deterring away from working with them. We need to change the narrative from ‘how expensive is it to sustainably source?’ to ‘ what is the social and economic impact to our plant if we don’t act now and sustainably source’.
Beth Adams, Senior Recruitment Consultant here, at Talent Drive, adds;
“Over the past 14 months I have noticed a growth in clients who are interested in candidates that have a passion in sustainability, I have also noticed an increase in candidates that are particularly interested in driving sustainability forward due to the positive impact it will have on our plane”
