Publications & Thought Leadership

September 2011

Sustainable Purchasing Guide

Posted in Implementation and Integration

Sustainable purchasing is a growing world-wide business trend. With declining natural resources, growing reputation risks, increasing energy costs, government regulations, concerns around air quality and toxins, and a desire to align values with business practices, more and more organizations are integrating social, ethical and environmental considerations into their purchasing decisions. The Sustainable Purchasing Guide is a tool to help organizations understand and master this new business process as a component of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) or sustainability mission. This Sustainable Purchasing Guide will walk you through the steps to building a sustainable purchasing program to highlight key considerations about the products and services you buy day to day. It is targeted at credit union organizations, but is generally applicable to most companies, governments and non-profits.

The Sustainable Purchasing Guide provides a definition of sustainable purchasing and summarizes the business case and benefits of sustainable procurement. This is followed by an overview of the components of a sustainable purchasing program, and then the steps to building out your approach. There is also a list of organizational resources and policies for those who wish to dig deeper.

Integrating social, ethical and environmental factors into purchasing is a dynamic process that builds on experience and supplier relationships which are unique to each organization. The guide offers tailored solutions for small and large organizations alike.

Bringing your values and principles to the marketplace can be challenging in the beginning as you build out your program. This Sustainable Purchasing Guide can help.