Welcome
to the Environmentally and
Socially Responsible Procurement Working Group
What is
sustainable procurement?
Sustainable procurement is the process in which
organisations buy supplies or services by taking
into account:
the best value for money considerations such
as, price, quality, availability, functionality,
etc.
environmental aspects ("green procurement":
the effects on the environment that the product
and/or service has over its whole lifecycle,
from the cradle to the crave)
the entire Life Cycle of products
social aspects: effects on issues such as
poverty eradication, international equity in
the distribution of resources, labour conditions,
human rights
Ultimately, these efforts aim at
minimising environmental pollution and depletion
of resources, while at the same time safeguarding
an increase of the standard of living for the
majority of people currently living below the
poverty line. UN and MDBs have an important role
in this, not only in setting the framework for
other stakeholders, but also to practice what
they preach. Governments in both developed and
developing countries can benefit from the efficiency
gains of sustainable procurement (cost-saving,
new business opportunities) and its effects on
capacity-building (increased knowledge and transparency
in international markets).
The ways that the UN and MDBs can
influence the market are various, ranging from
the direct effect of purchasing their own supplies
(office equipment, catering, modes of transport)
to more indirect effects of environmental and
social requirements in projects that their clients
are supposed to carry out.
Main instruments to promote sustainable
procurement policies include raising awareness,
supplying information and training (product criteria,
manuals) and developing (internal or external)
codes of conduct and reporting initiatives (such
ads the GRI (link) and the Global Compact (Link).
