Sustainable and Circular Procurement

Traditional purchasing focuses on procuring high-quality products and services at the most attractive price possible. Due to the tightening of environmental policy requirements and increasing environmental awareness among customers and citizens, a rethink is also expected in the area of purchasing. This is thanks to the integration of sustainability and circularity, which offer an opportunity for differentiation.

What do sustainability and circularity mean in purchasing?

Sustainable purchasing means designing specifications and processes in such a way that, wherever possible, products and services are procured that have low negative or high positive effects on the environment and people. By taking circularity into account, requirements are also placed on the recyclability of products, such as reusability and reparability, which bring both ecological and economic advantages. Fortunately more and more sustainable and circular products and services are coming onto the market, which are also economically competitive. On the other hand, this also makes it more difficult for purchasing to identify products that can really be described as sustainable. The assessment of suppliers with regard to their sustainability is often made more difficult by complex supply chains or frequently changing suppliers.

Initial situation and strategy definition

Thanks to an overarching procurement strategy, uniform standards for purchasing are defined and clear guidelines and specifications are provided for suppliers. The development of such a strategy requires detailed analysis of the current procurement management. This includes the analysis of products, suppliers, supply chains and standards already in use. With comprehensive know-how and a holistic view, we can support communities and companies in identifying sustainable and circular products and developing a procurement strategy. Methods such as life cycle assessment are available for this purpose.

Implementation

Since procurement usually involves a wide variety of internal and external interfaces, the implementation phase presents a particular challenge. It is important to sensitize employees and show them the advantages of sustainable purchasing. In addition, suppliers should be approached directly to integrate sustainability into the overall supply chain management.

We will support and accompany your organization by providing suitable tools. We’ll organize workshops for employees and suppliers and help you with the selection of new suppliers. Intep is also very familiar with sustainability rating platforms such as Ecovadis and can guide your organization in meeting and continuously improving the purchasing requirements set by your customers.

Reporting and quality control

Intep also provides consulting services to help you achieve long-term success in the purchasing process. We define and report relevant indicators helps to identify deficits. It is also advisable to conduct appropriate audits of suppliers or to request them to do so via a platform such as Ecovadis. The key figure analyses and information from audits ensure longer-term success monitoring and support you in defining measures for continuous improvement in purchasing.