Buyer Analytics

 Eye For Procurement published results of a recent green procurement survey. Over 180 procurement professionals participated in the survey with 50% from the United States, 20% from Europe and Asia with the balance from Africa, Australia and Latin America.

The survey details results to a series of questions about green procurement policies. 

• 31% have green procurement policies and are actively pursuing
• 21% have written green procurement policies
• 48% have no green procurement policy

There wasn't any information on what should be in a green procurement policy. Below is a list of web research results on what companies are including in their green procurement policies.

• Ricoh's green procurement policy desires suppliers that are compliant with ISO 14001 or equivalent. "We look to our suppliers to voluntarily understand and address their environmental activities and work with us achieve our environmental targets. We intend to work with you to address all issues (quality, environmental, technical and commercial) with a view to improvement activities, in order to achieve long-standing partnerships with our suppliers."
• Fujitsu has a 34 page policy titled "Fujitsu Group Green Procurement Direction". There are three key components of the policy.
  • Environmental Establishment System
  • Compliance with regulations for specified chemical substances
  • Chemical substance management system establishment
• The city of San Jose has a four page green procurement policy with the primary purpose to minimize negative environmental impacts of the City’s activities by ensuring the procurement of services and products that:
  • reduce toxicity;
  • conserve natural resources, materials, and energy;
  • maximize reconcilability and recycled content.
• King County (Washington) green procurement policy focuses on identification of environmentally preferable products and recycled products for purchase by city agencies. There is also a requirement to use both sides of paper sheets whenever practicable in printing and copying
• Konica Minolta is one of my favorite green procurement policies - it is simple and to the point.
  • We will promote green procurement from suppliers that make a significant contribution to “reducing the environmental burden”. Accordingly, we will evaluate the environmental aspect (E) at the same level as quality (Q), cost (C) and delivery (D).

Unlike a competitive bid policy, these examples illustrate that green procurement policies are not uniform. Each green procurement policy has a unique strategy based upon the organization's culture and objectives.  Different policies and strategies could be developed based upon the products purchased by each organization's buying group. So use your imagination and develop a leading edge green procurement policy.

If you'd like to read more blog posts about green procurement click here.