How can you overcome barriers to sustainable procurement in your industry?

Overcoming barriers to sustainable procurement involves key steps. Educate stakeholders on the long-term benefits, like cost savings and risk mitigation. Develop clear sustainability criteria for suppliers and integrate these into procurement policies. Engage with suppliers to understand their challenges and collaborate on solutions. Use pilot projects to demonstrate the effectiveness of sustainable procurement practices. Leverage industry networks to share best practices and resources. Regularly review and update procurement strategies to align with evolving sustainability standards and market conditions. By taking these steps, you can navigate and overcome barriers effectively.

The first step to overcoming barriers to ensure you can meet sustainability goals is to understand your current situation and the resources you have at your disposal. Understanding your current situation involves identifying gaps and opportunities for improvement. You can use tools such as suitability audits, questionnaires and external assessments to understand and evaluate your ESG performance. You can identify risks across your organization and create preventative measures. By understanding your situation, you can understand your critical issues, set realistic targets, and measure your progress throughout the process.

1. Evaluate Practices: Review procurement policies and processes to identify gaps in sustainability. 2. Identify Stakeholders: Map out all involved stakeholders and their roles. 3. Analyze Impacts: Assess the environmental and social impacts of your supply chain. 4. Gather Data: Collect data on sourcing, supplier practices, and material usage using sustainability metrics. 5. Benchmark: Compare against industry standards to identify improvement areas. 6. Engage Suppliers: Communicate with suppliers to understand their sustainability practices. 7. Internal Readiness: Evaluate your team's readiness for sustainable procurement.

Resistance to sustainable procurement from within the function -reOrient values and beliefs -Difficult to understand new requirements -Lack of competencies -Seen unacceptable workload

As business professionals, we are told to create wealth for shareholders, but we often must remember to think about other stakeholders directly affected by business operations. To surmount obstacles to sustainable procurement, the next step involves taking internal and external stakeholders and effectively conveying the advantages and anticipations of your sustainability initiatives. You can solicit input and support for your sustainability strategy, policies, and initiatives from senior management, staff members, vendors, consumers, and other pertinent parties.

First of all, you need to clearly identify all key stakeholders. This includes internal stakeholders such as procurement teams, marketing teams, and senior management, as well as external stakeholders such as suppliers, customers, and external partners. Second - engage stakeholders in the development of a shared vision and goals. By involving stakeholders in this process, you can ensure that their needs and priorities are taken into account, and that they feel ownership over the initiative. This alone will allow to build a strong and open communicative climate. And of course - recognize and reward progress, which can help to incentivize and motivate stakeholders to continue their efforts and drive progress towards sustainability goals.

Engaje todas as partes interessadas no processo, desde a alta administração até os fornecedores. A colaboração e o alinhamento de objetivos são fundamentais para superar resistências.

Aligning incentives and criteria with sustainability aims and principles is the third step towards removing obstacles to sustainable procurement. To ensure that they take sustainability issues like environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards, circular economy principles, or social responsibility standards into account, you may examine and amend your procurement procedures, policies, and contracts. Additionally, you may use metrics like total cost of ownership (TCO), ROI, or social return on investment (SROI) to show how sustainable buying selections will benefit you in the long run.

Defina critérios claros de sustentabilidade para as compras e alinhe-os com os incentivos da organização. Isso pode incluir políticas de compras verdes e incentivos financeiros.

Like I mentioned above - your suppliers are your external stakeholders, therefore collaborations with them is one of the key factors for fast and painless barriers overcoming. Develop open and transparent communication channels - by establishing clear lines of communication with your suppliers, you can more easily address any potential barriers or challenges that may arise in implementing sustainable procurement practices. This communication allows for greater collaboration and problem-solving between both parties. By leveraging the experience of your suppliers, you can identify new opportunities for improvement and drive positive change in your supply chain.

Trabalhe em conjunto com fornecedores para desenvolver soluções sustentáveis. Incentive práticas responsáveis e crie parcerias de longo prazo baseadas em valores compartilhados.

Esteja aberto a novas tecnologias e métodos que possam facilitar compras sustentáveis. Adapte seus processos continuamente para incorporar melhores práticas e soluções inovadoras.

I would rather recommend to predict and be ready for changes in the market rather then adapt to what's already happened. Conduct regular reviews and assessments of your procurement processes to identify potential barriers and areas for improvement. This will help you stay on top of evolving challenges and trends in the digital marketing industry. Embrace new technologies and innovative tools that can streamline procurement processes and make them more sustainable. This could include using automated software for tracking and monitoring supplier sustainability efforts, or adopting blockchain technology for increased transparency and accountability.

Learning from your experiences and making improvements based on your successes and mistakes is the last and sixth step towards removing obstacles to sustainable procurement. You may use technologies like data analysis, reporting, and feedback loops to monitor and assess the sustainability results, effects, and advantages of all of your procurement operations. You can also gather and share your best practices, lessons learned, and suggestions for development using techniques like reviews, questionnaires, and case studies.

Invista em treinamento e capacitação para sua equipe. Compreender profundamente as práticas de sustentabilidade ajuda a implementar mudanças eficazes e duradouras.

Policy and Regulation: Stay informed about relevant regulations and compliance requirements to ensure your procurement practices are up to date. Cultural Shift: Foster a company culture that prioritizes sustainability, encouraging employees at all levels to support sustainable procurement. Reporting and Transparency: Maintain transparency by reporting on sustainability goals and progress, building trust with stakeholders.

Collaborate with supply chain partners to share best practices and develop joint sustainability initiatives. Engaging organizations like CDP can be beneficial. The cause should extend beyond individual interests, encouraging industries within each sector to form consortiums for data sharing, making it cost-effective. Implement change management strategies to help employees and suppliers adapt to new sustainable procurement practices. Embrace technology to promote transparency and traceability in the supply chain. Utilize tools like blockchain to track the sustainability of products from source to final use.

Compartilhe histórias de sucesso e estudos de caso que demonstrem os benefícios de compras sustentáveis. Use esses exemplos para inspirar e motivar a equipe e os stakeholders a adotar essas práticas.