While companies need to achieve value for money in the goods and services they purchase, the concept of responsible procurement means that those goods and services must be produced or delivered in line with the aims of environmental sustainability and social justice.

Sustainable procurement is a vast and complex subject. It is fundamental to responsible business practice and increasingly, is seen as a source of competitive advantage to the companies that get it right, while a failure to monitor environmental and social factors in the supply chain carries significant reputational and commercial risk.

Put simply, if a company buys goods or services from a supplier further down the chain that exploits people or damages the natural environment, it stands to lose customers, reputation and shareholder confidence.

However, with increasingly complex global supply chains, companies need ever more robust procurement processes to manage risks. That involves taking a holistic look at the supply chain, to understand who and where we buy from and how much we spend.

It involves analysing the supply chain, careful supplier selection, adopting material clauses in contracts and scrutinising the integrity of suppliers at various levels in the supply chain to identify risks and explore how we can make improvements. It also means working with suppliers to help them meet appropriate social and environmental standards.

The goods and services we buy should be produced sustainably, ethically, safely and with respect for human rights and indigenous communities, both overseas and locally.

Large organisations like ours must use their purchasing power to achieve win-win solutions by building supply chains that both provide responsibly sourced products and services and balance the benefits of globalisation with the health of our local and national economies.

Adrian Coats, Impact Leader