Procurement

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Forging the missing link between procurement and sustainability

Connecting procurement and sustainability offers a key opportunity for companies to drive positive change. Despite its potential, procurement is often overlooked in corporate sustainability agendas, leading to fragmented strategies. Many companies address sustainability separately across departments like ESG, compliance, and traceability, missing the full impact of an integrated approach.

Our research has shown that an integrated agenda can make more impact than siloed efforts – as well as save money and open up more opportunities. By integrating business governance, procurement with sustainability can further accelerate progress towards a more holistic business approach.

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By prioritising sustainable procurement practices, organisations enhance risk assessment, supplier oversight, and the potential for value creation within the supply chain.

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Core principles for sustainable procurement

Sustainable procurement practices are key to enabling living wages for worker and living incomes for farmers. By adopting sustainable procurement and responsible contracting, companies can move away from putting all the risks on one actor and instead create a model of shared responsibility.

At IDH, we provide support to businesses in implementing sustainable procurement practices that balance their commercial goals with fairer purchasing arrangements. This approach helps improve the livelihoods and resilience of farmers and workers. We have developed five core principles to guide your sustainable procurement efforts. Explore them in the below video. 

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Five core principles towards sustainable procurement
To better leverage the potential of procurement to secure stable supply and thriving rural livelihoods, there needs to be greater and more widespread connectivity between sustainability and procurement teams.
Iris van der VeldenFormer Global Director Learning & Innovation
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