Sustainable Procurement 101

A Procurement Approach to Building a Sustainable Supply Chain

This online workshop series provides participants with the know-how for building aSustainable Procurement Program. It provides a straight-forward and systematic process for efficiently and effectively developing, documenting, implementing and managing an organizations’ commitment to driving sustainability through the supply chain using a sustainable procurement approach.

The development and implementation of a Sustainable Procurement Program will better enable organizations to drive sustainability deeper and more effectively into their supply chain. Increasing sustainability in the chain will help organizations meet the rising demands of customers and shareholders, reduce exposure to regulatory risks, strengthen supplier partnerships, drive market share and realize substantial cost savings.

The practical and hands on design of this program provides attendees with the knowledge and experience needed to lead or support a sustainable procurement initiative as they work through the steps in developing a Sustainable Procurement Program.

The step by step process used turns what can seem like a daunting task into bite size, manageable chunks. Supporting tools and resources that aid in the development of such a program are provided as part of the course material.

Driving sustainability beyond the four walls and into the supply chain is critical to competing and winning in 2013 and beyond.

Sustainable Procurement is a proven and dynamic approach to driving sustainability and is an essential component to any sustainability strategy,

What You will Learn

Learn by doing in this hands-on workshop. Learn from Green Purchasing experts through facilitated discussions, case stories, peer dialogues, and planning reflections about how to apply best practices to your organization.

Program Objectives

Upon completion of this course, participants will:

• Be able to define Sustainable Procurement and differentiate this from green procurement and a traditional procurement approach.

• Understand the business case for developing a Sustainable Procurement Program.

• Be able to diagram a proven process for the development of a Sustainable Procurement Program.

• Have worked through the steps in developing a sustainable procurement program to gain first-hand experience in the process. (Resource to be developed that will be a “reference guide” for each of the steps in the process)

• Have worked through the steps in documenting the details of a Sustainable Procurement Program to develop a Sustainable Procurement Policy that will help embed and sustain efforts in this area.(Participants provide with a sustainable procurement policy “template”)

• Be provided with supporting tools and resources needed to develop, implement and manage a Sustainable Procurement Program.

• Become familiar with best practices around Sustainable Procurement.

• Understand the different metrics used to help manage and drive performance of sustainable procurement programs.

• Have collaborated with like-minded professionals around best practices, challenges and opportunities regarding sustainable procurement.

• Have access to ongoing tools and resources related to sustainable procurement.

Workshop Leader

Brett has over 13 years of experience in the Sustainability Arena and first-hand experience leading teams in the implementation of Sustainability and Continuous Improvement initiatives.

Brett is the author of “Green Intentions: Creating a Green Value Stream to Compete and Win” (Productivity Press July 2009).

Brett helps organizations across North America profitably accelerate their journey towards Sustainability. As facilitator of 4 Partners in Project Green Sustainability Consortiums, Brett has the opportunity to regularly work with leading, sustainability minded organizations keeping him in touch with the latest innovations in Sustainability.

Expertise: Green & Sustainable Purchasing, “Lean & Green”, GHG Inventories, CSR

Reporting, Zero Waste