Setting a standard
id Noble, chief executive, Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply” width=”100″ height=”100″ />Asking for information to verify and evaluate a supplier’s sustainability credentials is a routine feature of many tender processes. The information gathered, whether through a questionnaire or other means, is then usually weighted and mapped against a benchmark, producing an overall sustainability score on which you base your sourcing decision.
But do you know how your scoring of a supplier compares with how buyers in other organisations rate that same supplier? Is your approach to evaluating your suppliers different depending on the strategic importance of the supplier or the level of risk it represents in your supply chain? At CIPS, we believe the time is right to work towards an industry standard for sustainability evaluation that will give reliable results and save valuable time. Our new tool for practitioners, the CIPS Sustainability Index (CSI), is being developed to meet that need.
We introduced the concept at the CIPS conference earlier this month and the full launch will follow in the new year. The index, which is being developed in partnership with PRGX and the University of the West of England, will be based on the three principal pillars of sustainability: financial, environmental and social. These create the platform for the development of a single, global standard relevant to goods and services suppliers across all sectors and in all markets.
The index is being designed to give buyers the ability to attribute appropriate weight to sustainability according to their organisation’s philosophy and to reflect factors such as geography and industry-specific requirements. In this way, the index will be able to support a buying organisation’s supply base no matter the size of the supplier or type of product or service provided. It will make the sustainability information request process more efficient.
It won’t just help procurement professionals, but will benefit all parties by improving efficiency in the supply chain. It will allow suppliers to spend less time responding to sustainability questions and help them identify any areas where they may be falling short. They will be able to compare themselves with the quartile scores for their sector group, which will help them raise their game if they want to remain competitive.
I would like to see the CSI
recognised in time as the independent, non-partisan and reliable index that
all buyers can use to form a realistic
view of their suppliers’ sustainability credentials, which will then become
the accepted standard
for sustainability evaluation in
our profession.
Member volunteers
Everything is coming together for the inaugural meeting of the CIPS Congress on 29 November, following the election of 19 representatives from eight national and international constituencies.
Together with the elected members who have moved from the former Council, they will become our new global body to represent members as we shape our future strategy.
Congratulations to the winners:
North of England
Trevor Black FCIPS
Richard Green FCIPS
Malcolm Taylor MCIPS
Martin Toomey MCIPS
Robert Waddell MCIPS
Central England
Roy Ayliffe FCIPS
Gary Howard MCIPS
Jenny Marshall MCIPS
Ian Smedley FCIPS
South of England
Richard Anstis FCIPS
Grahame Ball FCIPS
Joanna Richardson MCIPS
Africa
Dr Benon Basheka MCIPS
Azikiwe Mussa-Mbewe FCIPS
Samuel Asare Boateng MCIPS
Asia
Vivian Wang MCIPS
Australasia
Craig Lardner FCIPS
UK students
Deborah Holland
Africa students
Gideon Mayusa
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Hello David,
If your intent is to develop an assessment tool that really does apply across all sectors and industries with a single sustainability standard for suppliers, I’d be interested to know what you’ve done to ensure that you are tapping in to the very valuable work done by people who have preceded you. For instance, everyone (almost) uses liquid fuels to some extent and the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (RSB) has done landmark work on measuring and certifying the sustainability of various fuel suppliers. So I would assume that you would want to build on that. Their work is very mature.