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NINIAN WILSON – STANDING TALL WITH VODAFONE’S THREE PILLARS (PART 2)
Procurement With Purpose
April 30, 2021
In Part 1 we talked to Ninian Wilson, CPO at Vodafone, about how the organisation is embedding sustainable and purposeful behaviours into its procurement activities and its supply chain. (Part 1 is here)
HAS THE FOCUS ON SCOPE 3 EMISSIONS FAILED? (PART 2)
Procurement With Purpose
September 26, 2023
In the first article in this series, I suggested that the focus on Scope 3 emissions has so far largely failed in terms of real and positive outcomes, in that we are not seeing an economy-wide reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. One of the reasons for this is that much of the material, advice and thinking about Scope 3 is written by tech providers, consultants or sustainability experts who do not understand one of the most fundamental issues in procurement. So the typical Scope 3 guidance says something like this.
The Power of 'Partners with Purpose' Programs: Driving Supplier Engagement for a Net Zero Future
Scope 3
September 20, 2023
In a world racing against the ticking clock of climate change, 'Partners with Purpose' programs are not just a corporate trend but a beacon of hope. These initiatives, championed by industry leaders, are redefining the very essence of business growth, intertwining it with sustainability. But what makes them so transformative, and why are they the linchpin in our journey to a net-zero future?
HAS THE FOCUS ON SCOPE 3 EMISSIONS FAILED?
Procurement With Purpose
September 18, 2023
Over the summer, I’ve been thinking a lot about Greenhouse Gas emissions and "Scope 3" in particular. My question is this - has all the focus we have seen on that topic in recent years paid off? I am not in any sense going to join the growing chorus of “anti-net zero” sentiment, but it seems to me that we need to take a hard look at the way Scope 3 is currently being discussed, measured and addressed.
The Revolution of Zero-Emissions Cement: A Concrete Step Towards a Greener Future
Scope 3
September 18, 2023
Zero-emissions cement is on the horizon, promising a sustainable future for construction. With innovations and trials underway, the industry is taking bold steps to combat climate change. Dive deeper into the revolution with our comprehensive article.
SHOULD UNILEVER PULL OUT OF RUSSIA?
Procurement With Purpose
August 30, 2023
The war in Ukraine has brought some difficult challenges for western businesses. For instance, Nils Pratley in the Guardian discussed the changes facing Unilever’s relatively new CEO. The headline summed up the article – “Unilever’s new boss should seize last chance to exit Russia”. ”.
Supporting specific supplier groups - governments don't find it easy
Procurement With Purpose
August 22, 2023
Last week, the UK government published the 2021/22 data on central government spend with SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises). It showed spend going down slightly – but this sort of policy objective is notoriously difficult to turn into objectively good outcomes. Here is an abridged and relevant extract from the Procurement with Purpose book.
THE COUTTS / FARAGE FIASCO - LESSONS TO BE LEARNT
Procurement With Purpose
August 05, 2023
Despite the headlines here, I’m not sure how much resonance the Nigel Farage and Coutts case has outside the UK. To summarise for non-UK readers, Farage, the right-wing politician who played a major role in Brexit, got his bank account with Coutts closed. Coutts is part of the NatWest group now but historically was a bank for the rich and “upper class” folk. (I met a guy recently who told me that when he started his military officer training at Sandhurst some 45 years ago, straight from school, the youngsters were instructed they had to open a Coutts account in order to be paid!)
Is Amazon a "Good Company"?
Procurement With Purpose
July 26, 2023
It seems to be the season for firms to publish their sustainability / ESG reports for 2022. I guess it might just reflect how long it takes to put a comprehensive report together, although a cynic might worry that publishing during the summer holiday season means there is less chance of critics taking a close look at the data.
CLIMATE CHANGE COMMITTEE REPORT - LITTLE CONFIDENCE IN UK HITTING TARGETS
Procurement With Purpose
July 03, 2023
The UK target is to reduce emissions by 68% from the 1990 level by 2030. But according to the new report, there doesn’t seem much chance of hitting that target unless there are dramatic changes pretty quickly to government policy and public behaviour. “Some of the key planks of the UK Net Zero Strategy have substantial lead-times (e.g. hydrogen storage, greenhouse gas removals and carbon capture and storage (CCS) more generally). Progress in other areas is also too slow, including tree planting and the roll-out of low-carbon heating”.
GREENWASHING, GREENHUSHING, GREENRINSING - DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE?
Procurement With Purpose
March 28, 2023
If you’re interested enough to be reading this, you probably know about greenwashing. Greenwashing means communicating misleading, dubious or simply incorrect claims about your organisation’s sustainability, ESG or purposeful business activities. Whilst the term has come into common use only in the last decade or so, the concept has a long and inglorious history. The term was coined by environmentalist Jay Westerveld in 1986, although there are older examples of the practice. For example, in 1962, Westinghouse advertised its nuclear power division, calling the plants “clean and safe”. As meltdowns had already occurred in other nuclear plants, “safe” was debatable, and there was no mention of the issues around nuclear waste in the campaign either.
CAN SMALLER ORGANISATIONS REALLY DO PROCUREMENT WITH PURPOSE?
Procurement With Purpose
March 21, 2023
I was talking to the COO of a small (but very interesting) not for profit organisation recently. Their work and mission absolutely means that they need to show they act with “purpose” in everything they do, but she admitted procurement was not something particularly considered in that context.
Sustainability, Climate Change, and Carbon Capture: Three Must-Read Articles for Business Leaders
LinkedIn
February 25, 2023
As the world continues to grapple with the urgent challenges of sustainability and climate change, business leaders must stay informed and take action to address these issues. Here are three must-read articles that provide valuable insights into these challenges and the latest developments in sustainability and carbon capture.
HOW DO WE FEEL ABOUT THE OIL INDUSTRY?
Procurement With Purpose
February 07, 2023
If you care about the environment and climate change, it is easy to be negative about the oil and gas industry and its component companies. We need to transition to renewable energy as quickly as possible, and carbon emissions are rising again, with potentially horrible consequences for the planet and its people. Firms that extract and produce oil and gas are deeply embedded in the whole process of producing emissions.
FAKE MEAT - GREAT IDEA, BUT IS THE WORLD READY?
Procurement With Purpose
January 31, 2023
If you are at all interested in healthy eating, veganism and the future of food, this recent article by Denna Shanker published by Bloomberg is an absolute must read (but you may need to register to get a free article per week and access it on their website).
GETTING HOT, HOT, HOT - TEMPERATURE RECORDS BROKEN ACROSS EUROPE
Procurement With Purpose
January 03, 2023
The New Year has dawned, and after record low temperatures in the US just before Christmas, we are currently seeing new highs in Europe for the first week of January. The warmest January day ever was recorded in many European countries including Poland, Denmark, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Belarus, Lithuania and Latvia, according to data from climatologist Maximiliano Herrera, who tracks extreme temperatures.
COP15 on Biodiversity - Success or Failure?
Procurement With Purpose
December 22, 2022
The COP15 UN Biodiversity Conference, COP15, took place in Montreal last week. It produced an outcome that most observers see as positive for the future of the environment and the planet’s living creatures.
NEW ACCENTURE REPORT ON SCOPE 3 IS THOUGHT-PROVOKING AND HIGHLIGHTS A BIG QUESTION
Procurement With Purpose
December 16, 2022
Another interesting and useful report (with a few caveats) concerning carbon emissions was published recently. The title and sub-title signpost the content pretty well – “Thought you knew the Scope 3 issues in your supply chain? Think again. Gaining visibility to hidden hot spots to move from targets to action to value.”
THE KEY STAKEHOLDERS FOR SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS
Procurement With Purpose
December 06, 2022
This is a short extract from the book, “Procurement with Purpose - How organisations can change the way they spend money now to protect the planet and its people”. Available from Brown Dog here or all good online retailers.
HARVARD - TURNING SUPPLIER DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION FROM CONCEPT INTO REALITY
Procurement With Purpose
October 24, 2022
At the recent Jaggaer Rev conference in Nashville, there was considerable focus on sustainable and purposeful procurement (hence my keynote). Procurement technology firm Jaggaer is certainly getting behind that agenda and there is a genuine commitment to the cause from their senior people I spoke to at the event.
Tags: Supply Chain, Procurement, Diversity and Inclusion
HOW KALEIDA SUPPORTS SUPPLIER DIVERSITY - JASON ROBERTS TELLS ALL
Procurement With Purpose
October 13, 2022
Jason Roberts was brought up in Brixton by his single-parent Caribbean mother, then worked for over two decades in financial services. He started in IT before moving into selling technology into the sector, with some success. As a young, tall (6ft 5in) black guy, he had some “interesting” experiences, being told once told by a boss to be aware of the impact he had on others – “remember you’re a big guy, you’re a big black guy” following an incident in a corporate office. The implication was that colleagues might be somehow worried by his presence - for some reason, that never happened to me (5ft 7in white guy) when I worked in that sector!
Tags: Supply Chain, Procurement, Diversity and Inclusion
NO-ONE SAID PROCUREMENT WITH PURPOSE WOULD BE EASY
Procurement With Purpose
October 04, 2022
There have been several interesting news items recently that might give support to those who see the ESG movement as something of a con or a waste of time. I’d prefer to look at them differently. ESG, sustainable / purposeful procurement and related issues are all pretty new to us ideas really. We are all learning about the complexities involved, and therefore it is inevitable that some initiatives will prove to be less useful than others. There will also be fraud in places, until we get better at spotting that, and some people who see opportunities to make a quick buck.
Tags: Sustainability, Procurement, Renewable Energy
AVOIDING SOCIAL VALUE BARRIERS TO ENTRY
Procurement With Purpose
September 10, 2022
As the concept of looking for “social value” in public sector procurement becomes established, attention has turned to the practicalities of making it work in the intended manner. There are tricky issues which we have discussed around scoring the social value elements of bids and tenders. There are also risks that if buyers aren’t careful, social value considerations (including environmental demands, human rights accreditation and other factors we see cropping up now in procurement) might become barriers to entry, working against smaller, younger or less well-resourced potential suppliers. It would be ironic if “social value” made it harder for social enterprises, minority-owned firms and the like to actually win contracts!
PUBLIC PROCUREMENT NEEDS TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE
Procurement With Purpose
September 03, 2022
As I write this, we are only 48 hours away from knowing who our new Prime Minister is in the UK. Unless there is a huge shock – and the betting has the odds at about 90:10 probability - Liz Truss will be the winner.
US "INFLATION ACT" COMMITS BILLIONS TO CLIMATE ACTIONS
Procurement With Purpose
August 12, 2022
It’s not unusual for me to write something here that includes a phrase such as “this is all more complicated than it first seems”. That applies to everything from assessing social value in supplier bids to understanding whether re-forestation projects are really worthwhile.
SHOULD SOCIAL VALUE IN BIDS BE CONVERTED INTO FINANCIAL VALUE?
Procurement With Purpose
July 21, 2022
In the years since I became interested in procurement with purpose – and the parallel “social value” approach in the UK public sector – I’ve felt uncertain about one important issue. I touched on it in the book, but as social value becomes more prevalent in public procurement, and the weightings attached to it in supplier selection decisions increase, it becomes more and more critical.
PROCUREMENT WITH PURPOSE
Procurement With Purpose
November 29, 2021
Procurement with Purpose describes a growing and powerful movement – how organisations can use the money they spend with suppliers to help address wider environmental, social and economic issues. That is not just about emissions and climate change, but includes how to address issues such as biodiversity and habitat loss, plastics and waste, modern slavery, inequality and discrimination, and more. That organisational ‘buying power’ is now being used to drive change across the business and political world.
Procurement Leaders
Procurement Leaders
January 01, 2004
Procurement Leaders connects, informs and inspires global corporations and their executives to enhance the contribution procurement makes to the business each day.
Founded in 2004 and headquartered in London, we are a global membership network serving major corporations and procurement, sourcing and supply chain executives. We provide independent procurement intelligence, professional development and peer to peer networking via our award winning online information resource, events and training solutions.
Our unique insights, research and data, as well as networking and professional development opportunities, enable procurement executives to deliver more value to their businesses equipping them with expert practices that deliver greater savings faster, reduce risks and transform functional performance.
Illuminating The Future: Evolution of Supplier Relationships
hopin
March 31, 2021
Join the discussion with our industry experts on how they are evolving their relationships with their suppliers to deliver their goals
If you are a supply chain, procurement, sustainability or innovation practitioner Vizibl's COLLABORATE 2021 is a must attend. At this years summit we are focused on discussing topics with industry leaders and thought-leading trailblazers that challenge the status quo and show you how you can do what they have done.
Join us on Wednesday 31st March at Vizibl COLLABORATE 2021 to be enlightened, enabled, and empowered to turbocharge your supplier relationships for sustainability and growth.
Date: 31st March 2021 // Time: 14:00 - 18:30 UK TIME | 15:00 - 19:30 CET | 09:00 - 13:30 EST
Mark Perera looks at how leading organisations are looking deep into their supply chain to make a world of difference and how organisations are developing strategies for procurement with purpose.
Mark Perera - What's the case for Relationship Management?
Mission Innovation
May 26, 2020
A lot of people use terms like "supplier relationships" and "partnerships" interchangeably. To most of us, they mean the same thing. But when you're talking about your procurement strategy, it's important that you differentiate between the kinds of arrangements you want to nurture. They'll impact how you carry out your strategy and what resources you need to invest in.
Don't get left behind in the ecosystem revolution. Understand how innovation, through a strong, dynamic ecosystem, benefits your business now and in the next few years. Learn from Sean Thompson, Yves Mulkers and Mark Perera from Vizibl on how you can capitalize on global commerce for your business now.
PROCUREMENT WITH PURPOSE ROUNDTABLE
PROCUREMENT WITH PURPOSE
September 27, 2020
On Wednesday this week (September 30th, 2020), the two founders of the Procurement with Purpose website (and movement), Mark Perera and Peter Smith, are participating in a session on the topic during the Vizibl Collaborate 2020 virtual conference.
Sustainability through Supplier Collaboration: From green ideal to commercial imperative
Vizibl
February 03, 2021
On February 3rd 2021, Vizibl will be hosting a live webinar alongside executives from Heineken, BP, and Colgate Palmolive to discuss the topic that should be top of every enterprise's agenda in 2021: sustainability.
Once regarded as little more than corporate philanthropy, sustainability initiatives have since proved their returns
outweigh their cost; alongside safeguarding our planet and its people, they provide tangible financial advantage
to the businesses that pursue them.
At time of writing we are already over 25% of the way through the decade, with every five weeks that pass signifying one percent further to 2030. As such, my prediction for sustainability in 2023 is that we will see focus in corporate sustainability move away from data-gathering and aggregation towards taking urgent action based on the insights we’re able to generate quickly. We’ve spent years trying to construct the perfect dashboards, but nothing is going to happen if we just sit around staring at them rather than changing our behavior. I also anticipate that the focus of our attention will expand towards a broader concept of sustainability that places more emphasis on social issues, particularly human rights; organisations have been grappling primarily with their environmental impact thus far, but the upcoming European human rights legislations will force companies to look more closely at their performance across other dimensions under the banner of “ESG”.
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