For me, one of the big failures of London 2012 was to get to grips effectively with some of the ethical issues in the supply chain (despite some leading-edge work from LOCOG) and to address the question of ethical standards for sponsors. (more…)
But what about closer to home? How eco-friendly are you personally in your workplace? Are you a culprit of wasting energy, not recycling or printing out too many documents (guilty as charged)? (more…)
Want to get your business to consider sustainability, but don’t know how? Try talking to them about risk.
That’s the advice of Professor Andrew Douglas from the University of the West of England. Addressing buyers at the Sustainable Purchasing & Supply Summit in London last month as he helped launch the CIPS Sustainability Index, Douglas said people now see the sustainability agenda as a way of managing risk. (more…)
If something cannot go on forever, it will stop,” said American economist Herbert Stein. That, in a way, is all you need to know about sustainability. If something – a business practice, relationship or raw material that is in limited supply – cannot last, eventually it won’t.
Part of the problem with the discussion about sustainability in business is that the word has been hijacked or twisted by a range of people (where have we heard that one before?). So some might suggest that sustainability is merely something to do with energy use, or pollution, or recycling paper. (more…)
More and more CPOs are being asked to lead the sustainability agenda by their board. This is not always wanted, but as soon as supply chains are raised, the natural home is with the CPO.
Consumer behaviour, societal pressures and enlightened employees means corporate social responsibility (CSR) is rising back up the agenda, but what are the next steps you should take on behalf of your organisation? (more…)
It is 10 years since I tore up the sustainable procurement rule book and started again. My environmental colleagues wanted me to send an incredibly complicated questionnaire to all my suppliers about their environmental practices and apply a 5 per cent weighting to all tender evaluations based on this information. (more…)
With 2012 firmly drawn to a close, most procurement professionals will breathe a sigh of relief. It has been a tough year, full of economic uncertainty.
On the plus side, none of the doom scenarios such as the collapse of the euro have played out, but on the negative side the OECD recently slashed its global growth forecast to 2.9 per cent in 2012. This, coupled with growing public sector debt, has presents a host of challenges. (more…)
1. The Olympic Park had its own power station. If you look beyond the Copper Box you can see a tall chimney with “ENERGY” written on it. This is a plant that generates electricity in a gas engine and uses waste heat to provide hot water and heating for the buildings. It is linked to a similar unit that powers the Westfield Centre. There is a lot of spare capacity in this system, allowing more engines to be added without digging up the Park and replacing pipes, and it will provide efficient energy for generations to come. (more…)
canadian pharmacyid 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? (more…)
Since the start of 2012, I’ve been to the US three times and it is interesting to reflect on what is going on in the world of sustainability. It is tempting to say “not much” and make this a very short blog, but that’s not the case.
I never imagined I would spend time in Texas working on sustainability with a company that exclusively supplies big oil with capital equipment, but I did. I never imagined I would end up helping the United Nations deliver the Rio +20 event in a more sustainable way, but I have. I did not predict spending time with the UK, US and Canadian institutions for civil engineering talking about more sustainable infrastructure development, but I have. And I expect to be back in the summer, working with at least two other global businesses. And yes, I offset my flights! (more…)
My role with the London Olympics finally came to an end in March with a final report, a bit of a party and a few last words on a blog. Since the closure of the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012, I have had a bit more time to reflect on some of my other work.![[Bloglines]](http://blog.supplymanagement.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/bloglines.png)
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