The process is used to ensure the buyer receives goods, services or works for the best possible price, when aspects such as quality, quantity, time, and location are compared.
Organizations practicing sustainable procurement meet their needs for goods, services, utilities and works not only on a private cost–benefit analysis, but also with the intention to maximizing net benefits for themselves and the wider world.
[1] These can be seen as the 'sustainability pillars' of procurement, which can be underpinned by one or several instruments for development, such as those proposed by Amartya Sen: (1) economic facilities, (2) social opportunities, (3) protective security, (4) political freedoms and (5) transparency guarantees.
Sustainable procurement is used to ensure that purchasing reflects broader goals linked to resource efficiency, climate change, social responsibility and economic resilience, for example.
[10] Environmental concerns are the dominant macro-level justification for sustainable procurement, born out of the growing 21st century consensus that humanity is placing excessive demands on available resources through unsustainable but well-established consumption patterns.
[5] Sustainable procurement also involves looking at production practices and making sure there are not any negative impacts to the environment such as pollution, biodiversity loss or habitat disruption.
The most straightforward justification for green procurement is as a tool with which to address climate change, but it offers the broader capacity to mitigate over-exploitation of any and all scarce resources.
[11] Examples of green procurement range from the purchase of energy-saving light-bulbs to the commissioning of a new building from renewable sourced timber or organic food being served in a workplace canteen.
[14][15] Although various corporate giants have publicly acknowledged adopting sustainable procurement and reducing their carbon footprint, they have miserably failed to match their promises.
The most widely discussed examples include Disney's initiative to introduce sustainable paper sourcing policy in 2012 and 3M promising to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.
[16] Sustainable procurement is also used to address issues of social policy, such as inclusiveness, equality, international labor standards and diversity targets, regeneration and integration.
There are also potential global applications: sustainable procurement can favor fair trade or ethical practice, and allow extra investment to channeled towards developing countries.
Since then, the list of countries adopting this newly designed approach to developing has increased, adding more advanced and industrialized nations to be used as case studies to measure the efficiency and benefits of the implementation of sustainable public procurement.
In Brazil, the project involved recycled paper; in Costa Rica, the management services was redesigned; toner cartridges for laser printers were the main objective in France; in Hong Kong and China the nations aimed to improve traffic with LED traffic light retrofitting; organic food for school children was the focus in Italy; sustainable construction was the focus in England; consultancy and temporary staff services were renovated in Scotland; and in the United States, there was a push for the sustainable transportation of waste.
The purchase of remanufactured ink cartridges by the French Ministry of Education has led to a decrease in the amount of waste generated at the manufacturing stage.
The construction or services case studies (Yorkshire and Humber Region, UK, and Oregon, USA) demonstrate significant impacts related to the reduction of CO2 emissions, of waste production, and of water consumption.
Some of the social impacts are directly targeted by tenders, such as the participation of companies employing disabled persons in the French case or the fight against illiteracy in Scotland.
The General Services Administration, an independent establishment and government corporation, is responsible for promoting green procurement and provides federal agencies with selling and purchasing guidelines and suggestions.
For instance, Papua New Guinea, Ecuador and Brazil have all developed strategies to provide economic facilities to selected industries, while also addressing some of the sustainability pillars in their procurement practices: for example, adopting environmental standards and giving preference to smaller and local suppliers, women-owned businesses and peasant family farmers.
[25] Government departments and local bodies can use procurement to address certain chosen agendas in buying solutions that will contribute to the community or environmental goals, or to diversity or equality targets.
[29] ICLEI is a membership organization of local governments who recognizes the power of Sustainable Public Procurement to achieve environmental, social and economic benefits.
[34] The policy reflected Mayor Ken Livingstone's enthusiasm for public procurement as a tool for fostering social inclusion, equality and environmental objectives.
[35] The Action Plan, which incorporated answers to the Sustainable Procurement Task Force, was explicitly environment-oriented in approach (Ch 4.3) with wider social issues scarcely addressed.
Despite its acknowledged importance among senior politicians and business leaders, publication of the Action Plan received only one national newspaper report, and that was markedly flippant in tone.
[36] Sustainable procurement outside of the United Nations is happening everywhere, in the international community, in states and local authorities, in the private sector and in the civil society.
An initiative by the Aid by Trade Foundation, for example, trains smallholder farmers to produce sustainable cotton in exchange for exclusive contracts with international brands and retailers.
The purpose of the program is not only to address growing concerns around the long-term viability of global fish populations, but also to prevent the collapse of the Northern cod fishery.
This joint effort increased voluntary sustainability certification among producers in developing countries as well as the rate of purchasing certified goods from the private sector.
Public funding from the IDH was found to have catalyzed the industry trends of sustainable production certification and procurement in sectors such as cotton, cocoa, tea and others.