Promoting Green Purchase to Conserve Our Environment

Abstract

This sustainability assessment report provides the best alternative approach for implementing sustainable purchasing in my organization of work. The organization recently formed a multidisciplinary team, which I was part of, to guide in formulating a sustainable procurement framework to meet the sustainable development goals according to the “United Nation Vision 2030 Agenda for sustainable development under Sustainable Development Goals Cap 12).” This report highlights part of the team’s solutions, including buying from companies with sustainability policies and certification, requesting suppliers to use sustainable packaging, and creating supplier relationships to promote sustainability goals.

Introduction

The environmental, social, and economic concerns have resulted in the increasing interest in green perchance across organizations globally. The following report presents sustainability assessment findings into promoting sustainable purchasing in my current organization to contribute to the global effort of conserving our planet.

What is the Sustainability Assessment?

Sustainability assessment (SA) is a framing of impact assessment or appraisal. SA is conducted to support policy and decision-making in a comprehensive economic, environmental and social context and aims to deliver positive, sustainable gains both now and into the future (Teh & Corbitt, 2015).

Green Purchasing/Sustainable Procurement

Green purchase, also known as sustainable procurement, describes buying products or contracting for services with smaller-than-average environmental impacts. It involves taking ecological and social considerations alongside economic factors in making procurement/purchase decisions (Lăzăroiu, 2020). The decision-making from this perspective considers the entire life costs, success measures, associated risks, and impact on the environment and society.

STEP ONE: ISSUE TO BE ADDRESSED

This sustainability assessment addresses best practices for green procurement in organizations to achieve the global mission of conversing the ecosystem. The report is guided by the United Nation Vision 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development under Sustainable Development Goals Cap 12, “Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns” and its Target 12.7 therein referring to the need to “Promote public procurement practices that are sustainable, per national policies and priorities” (Jägers, 2020). Currently, I am part of the organization team responsible for developing a sustainable purchasing policy to promote the company’s effort in contributing to sustainable development.

STEP TWO: DESIRED OUTCOMES

This sustainable assessment aims to provide the most effective approach to integrating social and environmental consideration into the purchasing process to reduce the adverse effect upon the environment, social condition, and health, thus saving valuable costs for the organization, and society (Brach, Walsh & Shaw, 2018). Sustainability from this angle implies ensuring that the organization’s products or services are sustainable as possible, with the most negligible environmental impact and most positive social outcomes and reasonable, manageable economic costs. This sustainability assessment ensures that the organization’s purchasing activities make an optimal contribution to sustainable development goals (Teh & Corbitt, 2015). The purchase decision should be economically viable, environmentally sound, and socially equitable.

STEP THREE: SUSTAINABILITY DECISION-MAKING PROTOCOL

Sustainability Decision-Making Protocol
Decision Making Criteria	Acceptability Criteria	Targets
Social Progress
Does the purchasing decision consider issues such as poverty eradication, promotion of local entrepreneurship, women empowerment, labor, human rights, and poverty eradication?	The product or service is produced locally and meets the acceptable standards for human consumption. The product purchased considers fundamental human rights such as fairness, equality and respect, and labor rights. Support youths and women empowerment, and promote eradication of poverty.	The target is to help the organization purchase or procure socially sustainable products and services, focusing on satisfying the needs of the current generation while not harming the future generation. The aim to help promote social development.
Environmental Progress
Is the product environmentally friendly? Is the product packaging biodegradable? Can the product packaging be recycled? Does the production of the material take into account mechanisms to prevent environmental pollution? Does the production process focus on energy saving? Does the product promote the minimization of waste?	The product must be eco-friendly, recyclable, packaged in a biodegradable package, and the source company promotes environmental protection.	The target is to help my organization to contribute towards reducing environmental impact through sustainable purchasing. This is achievable by taking the whole-life approach to assess the environmental impact of the products and services procured and building considerations into value for money assessment with sustainability at the back of the mind.
Economic Considerations
Does the product offer the best value for money? Does the product offer the best quality, prices, functionality, and availability? Does the product promote the development of local companies and SMEs?	The product or services procured must offer the best value for money in terms of quality, price, functionality, and availability while simultaneously considering the environmental and social standards for sustainability.	The target is to help the organization purchase economically viable products and services while protecting the environment and social values.

STEP FOUR: ALTERNATIVES TO ACHIEVE SUSTAINABLE/GREEN PURCHASING

Sustainable procurement incorporates sustainability consideration in the entire purchasing cycle to achieve optimal money value in delivering an organization’s development objections. For green/sustainable purchasing policy, organizations must draw ideas from multidisciplinary teams to attain optimal outcomes. The following are three alternative steps the organization should take to achieve sustainability when purchasing products or services.

1. Buy products from companies with sustainability policies and certification
2. Request the company’s suppliers to use sustainable packaging
3. Develop business relationships with trustworthy suppliers

STEP FIVE: EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVES

Buy Products from Companies with Sustainability Policies and Certification

Among the most effective alternatives to achieve sustainability in the organization’s purchasing process is to purchase products from companies that have sustainability policies and certification. This can be achieved by asking for evidence of sustainability before signing the agreement to buy. Green America certifies companies that are devoted to using the organization platform for social changes. The firm has evaluated more than 8,000 small, medium, and even large businesses for sustainability since 1982. The sustainable business adopts policies, principles, and practices that improve the quality of life for the communities, employees, customers, and the planet (The & Corbitt, 2015). Hence, a supplier holds no reason for lacking such a certification.

Sustainability procurement in any organization entails buying products and contracting for services that give preference to sellers or service providers that generate positive environmental and social outcomes. The process integrates sustainability into product selection in that the effects on the environment and the society are minimized or eliminated throughout the product’s entire life cycle. Sustainability procurement for the organization must consider what products are made off, the source, the expertise behind the production process, and how they will be ultimately be disposed (Lăzăroiu, 2020). There should also be a consideration on whether the product is necessarily essential for the organization at that time of purchase. The suppliers’ sustainability policies must incorporate social, environmental, and economic dimensions and benefit the local and global communities, the workforce, and the environment.

Request Suppliers to Use Sustainable Packaging

Sustainable packaging is an essential facet of the purchasing process as it helps to minimize the ecological footprint in all the phases of the product’s life-cycle process. Sustainable packaging, which incorporates recyclable and biodegradable materials, supports both producers and consumers in minimizing their environmental effects (Siracusa & Rosa, 2018).  Humans’ impact on the planet is the greatest challenge the plant faces today and in the decades ahead, and should be everyone’s concern, including companies. We all buy packaged products, and it is our responsibility to ensure that the packages are sustainable. What is sustainable packaging? Sustainable packaging is produced from sustainable materials, recyclable and biodegradable, using energy from renewable sources. A sustainable package should remain safe and effective during its life cycle; after that, its constituent materials should be recyclable or biodegradable when disposed to the environment, generating a closed-loop between manufacturing and usage (García-Arca, Garrido & Prado-Prado, 2017). However, sustainable packaging should still satisfy the market requirement in terms of costs, safety and performance.

Develop Business Relationships with Trustworthy Suppliers

A positive relationship with the suppliers translates into sharing sustainability ideas and feedback, which can be applied to achieve the organization’s sustainability goals and lead to lower costs and safer products in the long-run. A study has revealed that developing relationships with your main suppliers leads to positive gains, both to the supplier and the buying organization, which can have a ripple effect on society (The & Corbitt, 2015). There are significant costs involved in signing up a deal with new suppliers. However, building up a relationship with your supplier can eliminate some of the costs and generate a net positive impact both with the supplier, organization, and society. Good supplier-organization relationships not only result in a cost-saving opportunity but also reduces delays, availability issues, and quality problems. The supplier relationship also reduces wastage, which can occur between the supplier and the buying organization. With a good supplier relationship; the buying entity is assured of the quality product or services based on the agreed price. Wastes caused by inefficiencies can also be established and eliminated in the process (The & Corbitt, 2015). This lowers costs and improve sustainable service delivery.

STEP SIX: PREFERRED ALTERNATIVE

The most preferred alternative to achieving sustainable purchase for the organization is establishing a relationship with the leading suppliers. The primary advantage of a robust, healthy supplier relationship is that the organization can gain better value for the business while at the same time striking deals not only help the buyer but even the society at large. Such may include encouraging the supplier to adopt sustainable packaging to conserve the environment (The & Corbitt, 2015). Through a robust supplier relationship, the organization can develop a cost-effective, efficient and productive supply chain.

STEP SEVEN: MITIGATION AND MANAGEMENT

• Develop and implement sustainability policies and guideline, which stipulates selection criteria for sustainable products.
• Incorporate various stakeholders across the organization to help the procurement department formulate sustainability policies and decision-making concerning buying.
• Conduct training on employees and workshops to educate organization stakeholders on sustainability issues.
• Follow strictly the sustainability laws and regulations set by the national government. The federal statutes and policies complement the internally generate sustainability policies to achieve an optimal outcome.

CONCLUSION

The following sustainability assessment report presents the best alternative approaches to promoting green purchasing in my current organization to contribute to the global effort of conserving our ecosystem and the UN 2030 Sustainable Development goals. The report recommends that the organization embrace supplier relationship as the first alternative to creating sustainable procurement.

References

Brach, S., Walsh, G., & Shaw, D. (2018). Sustainable consumption and third-party certification labels: Consumers’ perceptions and reactions. European Management Journal, 36(2), 254-265.

García-Arca, J., Garrido, A. T. G. P., & Prado-Prado, J. C. (2017). “Sustainable packaging logistics”. The link between sustainability and competitiveness in supply chains. Sustainability, 9(7), 1098.

Jägers, N. (2020). Sustainable Development Goals and the Business and Human Rights Discourse: Ships Passing in the Night?. Human Rights Quarterly, 42(1), 145-173.

Lăzăroiu, G., Ionescu, L., Uță, C., Hurloiu, I., Andronie, M., & Dijmărescu, I. (2020). Environmentally responsible behavior and sustainability policy adoption in green public procurement. Sustainability, 12(5), 2110.

Siracusa, V., & Rosa, M. D. (2018). Sustainable packaging. In Sustainable Food Systems from Agriculture to Industry (pp. 275-307). Academic Press.

Teh, D., & Corbitt, B. (2015). Building sustainability strategy in business. Journal of Business Strategy.