ARNnet - From the Top: Toshiba’s Mark Whittard - Mobile trends and green computing

13. September 2007 by admin.

ARNnet - From the Top: Toshiba’s Mark Whittard - Mobile trends and green computing
Green computing is becoming a major industry concern. What is Toshiba doing to improve its carbon footprint?

MW: A lot of the government-based reports have been rightly focused on the trade-in and deployment end of the cycle. What they’re becoming more aware of, and where our focus is, is the entire lifecycle and there are five elements here. The first thing is component procurement and where materials for those come from. Toshiba is one of the few vendors that publishes strict green procurement guidelines. Additionally, we were the first to launch a fully Restriction of Hazardous Substances [RoHS] compliant computer in 2004.

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Green Procurement in Asia | Establish

4. September 2007 by admin.

Green Procurement in Asia | Establish
Green Procurement in Asia
Supply Chain Management with Environmental Criteria
Environmentally responsible or ‘green’ procurement is the selection of products and services that minimize environmental impacts. It requires a company or organization to carry out an assessment of the environmental consequences of a product at all the various stages of its lifecycle. This means considering the costs of securing raw materials, and manufacturing, transporting, storing, handling, using and disposing of the product. (bsdglobal.com)

Companies sourcing in Asia are increasing their green procurement efforts. Green procurement activities can include:

* Focus on the environmental compliance status and practices of supplier operations.
* Joint development of new materials, processes or other solutions to environmental issues.

The methods companies use to work with their suppliers can include:

* Requiring suppliers to implement, and possibly certify, environmental management systems.
* Educating suppliers about materials use, pollution prevention, design for disassembly or other issues and tools of interest to the customer company.
* Enlisting suppliers’ help in developing new materials, parts or processes to address environmental concerns.
* Auditing suppliers’ compliance status. (Source: Green Business Network 2001)

Below are two examples of companies implementing green sourcing practices in Asia.

Fujitsu’s Green Life 21 – Making Everything Green Concept

Fujitsu’s “Green Life 21 – Making Everything Green” is the key theme for their environmental efforts in every business area, including procurement of parts and materials. “In December 2003, Fujitsu established a center known as the EMC (Ecology Management Center) in Taiwan and Hong Kong (China) specializing in RoHS compliance and using the Fujitsu Green Procurement Direction as a reference. The main role of the EMC is to ensure that suppliers’ operations promote environmental protection and procured parts are free from harmful substances and chemicals stipulated in the Fujitsu Green Procurement Direction.” (Source:http://www.fujitsu.com/)

Konica Minolta Business Technologies Implementing Green Partner Program Covering RoHS Requirements

Konica Minolta Business Technologies selects suppliers on the basis of quality, cost and delivery time, plus environment standards. Paying particular attention to the environmental aspect of procurement activities, in fiscal 2006 the company decided to launch a Green Partner program, which honors suppliers promoting Green Procurement in conformance with RoHS and other environmental regulations. They have developed a survey format, manuals and reference materials in Chinese for their Chinese suppliers and successfully initiated full-scale operations in April 2005. Operation of a verification system began in July 2005. (Source: http://konicaminolta.com/)

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Green Procurement Still a Work in Progress

18. July 2007 by admin.

Green Procurement Still a Work in Progress

Awareness growing of Procurement’s environmental impact, but few companies incorporating green strategies into their purchasing, BrainNet study finds
By Editorial Staff

Bonn, Germany — July 17, 2007 — Despite growing awareness of the need to safeguard ecological resources, few companies are putting this principle into practice in their buying behaviors, according to a recent study by consulting firm BrainNet.

Given global climate change and the pollution of the environment, most companies are no longer asking whether they want to do something to protect the planet, but rather are considering what they can do.

Procurement policies could have a significant impact on a company’s environmental “footprint,” given that somewhere between 50 and 70 percent of a company’s overall costs originate from purchasing.

However, “green purchasing” so far has had no standard definition. Generally speaking, it is understood to mean the purchase of products and services with minimal negative effects on the environment. This relates to the entire lifecycle of the products, from manufacturing and transport to processing, disposal and recycling.

“More than half of all processes between companies and their commercial, ecological and economic environment are purchasing-related,” says Sven T. Marlinghaus, partner at BrainNet. “Greater focus must therefore be placed on the environment when it comes to purchasing.”

New Criteria in Purchasing Decisions

Purchasing decisions have typically been made based on such criteria as product, quality, coordination or risk costs. A purchase that complies with the principles of green procurement also takes greater account of the costs for environmental damage arising from production, delivery and processing.

So far only a few companies and official organizations in Germany are taking such “green” factors into consideration in their purchasing, according to the BrainNet study. “Fewer than 20 percent of all companies are actively tackling green procurement, and not even one in 10 companies is taking account of environmental costs as a critical factor when making decisions about its expenditure,” notes Marlinghaus. “In the context of a globally oriented procurement organization in particular, this issue is an especially thorny one.”

Studies at both national and international levels have confirmed these trends, BrainNet says. For example, the German Institute for Economic Research estimates the costs of climate change in Germany alone over the next 50 years at 800 billion euros ($1.1 billion). Elsewhere, the United Nations climate report may avoid specific figures, but it comes to the conclusion that there is an ongoing climate change and that it is caused by mankind. Based on these findings, the U.N. report suggests a price for CO2.

The creation of global emissions trading is also one of the key pledges of the Stern Report carried out on behalf of the British government. The team led by Nicholas Stern, the World Bank’s former chief economist, states that the reason for its call for action is that if climate protection is abandoned, costs will be 20times those of the effective reduction of greenhouse gases.

“Eco-friendly processes and an intact ecological system will in the foreseeable future become crucial location and investment factors,” says Josef Schwake, senior vice president for corporate sourcing coordination at Bertelsmann. “The price of a commodity or service is increasingly being influenced by ecological factors. Modern purchasing organizations have to take this into account professionally.”

Green Procurement as Value Driver

This forecast is already being confirmed today. The responses by markets, customers, public bodies and other commercial players to the adherence to, or infringement of, environmental standards have become significantly stronger in recent years. “Over 10 years ago, the tremendous public dynamism surrounding the Brent Spar disaster showed just what severe consequences non-eco-compliant behavior can have on the image and economic constitution of a company,” explains Marlinghaus. “Today the issue is actively driven by customers, analysts and financial markets.”

Confirmation of this development is the “green” fund, Portfolio 21, managed by investment company Progressive Investment Management, which has for years been faring better than the MSCI World Equity Index and S&P 500 Index, for example. The inclusion criteria for the fund stipulate that the companies pay particular attention to environmental aspects in all areas of their activities.

“In this country, an environmental focus is still all too often regarded as a hobbyhorse of idealists,” says Schwake. “That said, it offers solid economic advantages in the medium term and increases the company’s value.”

The partially higher price of “green” purchasing processes is, on the one hand, offset by an improved corporate rating by the financial markets and customers. On the other, a strong ecological orientation increases companies’ planning security. Fossil fuels, for example, which today cover a large proportion of all energy requirements, harbor considerable geopolitical risks and consequently the risk of a significant price increase.

“One in three purchasing managers regard rising raw material and energy prices as a major corporate risk”, says Marlinghaus. “Recycling valuable raw materials and using alternative resources will over the next few years decisively influence companies’ profitability.”

Gerhard Schmitt, purchasing departmental manager at the pharmaceutical research firm Boehringer Ingelheim, sees environmental protection increasingly becoming an area of interest for companies from an economic perspective as well. “It is in this area that competitive advantages arise either over the longer or shorter term that will also influence companies’ procurement activities,” Schmitt says. “In this context, we are increasingly including the issue of environmental protection in the decisions we make about our suppliers.”

Boehringer Ingelheim has made ecological issues an integral part of its corporate policy and culture. Two years ago, for example, the company’s own power plant in Ingelheim was switched from coal to the regenerative fuel wood, a measure that not only massively improved the CO2 balance sheet, but whose cost-effectiveness is still being felt today.

The power plant conversion to wood combines smart ecological with economic benefits, such as the more favorable price of wood compared to hard coal and the independence from rising fuel prices on the world energy markets. “It is worth taking environmental protection seriously in every respect. Purchasing will find its purpose here,” concludes Schmitt.

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Five outsourcing trends to watch | CNET News.com

9. July 2007 by admin.

Five outsourcing trends to watch | CNET News.com

Experts are tracking consolidation, globalization, and emergence of small-scale services, virtual worlds and even “green sourcing.”
By Natasha Lomas
Special to CNET News.com
Published: July 6, 2007, 6:22 AM PDT

Five outsourcing trends to watch

Which way is the wind blowing in the outsourcing market? What’s looming on the horizon in the next five years?

Silicon.com has identified five areas to watch.

Consolidation

Globalization

Person-to-person offshoring

Green sourcing
Rising energy prices have put ecology issues firmly on CIOs’ radar. But could pressure to demonstrate green credentials influence businesses’ outsourcing decisions as well?

Silicon.com’s CIO Jury–a pool of chief information officers and other corporate IT professionals who are polled on various technology issues–recently revealed that environmental factors play a key role in the selection of technology suppliers and partners.

Virtual worlds

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Kick starting green procurement

3. July 2007 by admin.

Kick starting green procurement
Web Posted - Mon Jul 02 2007
By Janelle Husbands

HAVING articulated the policy, it has been recommended that Government now set the trend in procuring things green. The recommendation came from Sydney Symmonds of Global Development Services as he spoke on the topic Kick Starting Green Procurement at a recently held seminar hosted by the Ministry of Energy and the Environment. His comments came as he revealed findings of a recently conducted survey, where several businesses were asked whether they would participated in a Eco-labelling programme or procure green goods, even though it would not increase their bottom line.

What was fascinating is that some 52 per cent of the businesses surveyed said yes they would. So we have a platform on which we can talk about Green procurement and the transforming of Barbados from its current procurement method, and current consumption method into a whole green method.

The concept of greening was well articulated by the Prime Minister in his budgetary statement but I believe that to make this into practice is going to consider considerable effort and change in the consumption patterns he said.

He said this will call for the emergence of a new lifestyle and encouraging the consumer to change his or her buying habits, which he noted, could be assisted by the retailers. Symmonds suggested that procurement is done on three levels, the public sector level, the private sector and the personal level of consumption.

If we are to transform Barbados over the next three to five years it is our recommendation that Government should set the trend in procuring things green. He noted that this could range from changing to Eco-friendly paint to the type of office furniture bought.

He noted that already countries have established their own Eco-marks such as the Nordic Swan and the Euro flower. Across the world there are many labels and many countries that have in fact, put Eco-labels on several products. Across the spectrum, more countries are moving to produce green items and to label them. So it is a question of education, knowledge and informing people.

If we are to kick start, we are going to have the Chamber off Commerce, the Small Business Association, the Manufacturers Association, the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association, all of these have to incorporate into their policy and influence their members to move in the green direction.

He said that while the responses from the business community have been favourable, there was a lack of knowledge in some areas.

To this end, Symmonds suggested that longer-term incentives will be needed along with ongoing workshops and seminars to urge business owners to move away from traditional suppliers towards a gradual increase of green products in their inventory.

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Vancouver City Council: Implementation of a Sustainable/Ethical Procurement Policy

22. June 2007 by admin.

CITY OF VANCOUVER ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

	Date:	June 15, 2004
	Author:	Larry Berglund
	Phone No.:	604-873-7254
	RTS No.:	RTS04225
	CC File No.:	3501
	Meeting Date:	June 22, 2004

TO:	Vancouver City Council
FROM:	General Manager of Corporate Services
SUBJECT:	Implementation of a Sustainable/Ethical Procurement Policy

RECOMMENDATION

A. THAT Council direct staff as Phase I of the development of a Sustainable and Ethical Procurement Policy, to prepare and present a draft policy to Council on the purchase of apparel and fair trade agricultural products. The policy is to be based on best practices of similar organizations and to be implemented by December, 2004. Staff will also report on resources required to implement the policy.

B. THAT Council direct staff, on a Phase II work plan to report back by December, 2004 including resource requirements for developing and implementing a comprehensive Sustainable and Ethical Procurement Policy that incorporates environmental and social objectives as well as aligns with other sustainability initiatives including the Downtown Eastside Economic Revitalization Plan, the City of Vancouver Sustainability office objectives and objectives of the Inner City Inclusive Commitment Statement for the 2010 Winter Games.

On April 8, 2004, Council resolved that The City of Vancouver will have a Sustainable and Ethical Procurement Policy in place by December, 2004. Council directed appropriate staff to report back with answers to six specific questions in relation to the resolution.

CITY MANAGER’S COMMENTS

The City Manager concurs with the recommendations in this report.

The scope of a Sustainable and Ethical Procurement Policy is very large, potentially affecting all City operations and affecting every purchasing decision of all goods and services. The development of a Sustainable and Ethical Procurement Policy must be aligned with values of other initiatives such as the 2010 Olympics Sustainability Objectives, the City of Vancouver Sustainability office objectives and the Vancouver Agreement’s DES revitalization program. The City will need time and resources to build internal capacity to implement and administer a sustainable procurement strategy.

At the same time, organizations have just begun to develop procurement practices that address sustainability issues so there is limited experience and knowledge to draw upon. Existing experience indicates that implementation of a Sustainable and Ethical Procurement Policy is a long term undertaking. A well developed strategy that is meaningful and effective will require that the City take an incremental approach establishing clear objectives, realistic targets and achievable time lines.

The implementation of a Sustainable and Ethical Procurement Policy over two phases starting with a focus on Ethical Procurement as defined in this report. This approach is consistent with the strategy of other municipalities that have only focused on purchasing apparel and related products that have been manufactured in a way that does not violate standards set by the International Labour Organization.

There will be a need for additional staff resources to assist with the implementation of an Ethical and Sustainable Procurement Policy. The resources will be used to develop mechanisms to monitor compliance and for working collaboratively with suppliers to ensure there is no disruption of goods and services critical to the City’s operations.

One year after implementation, staff will report back to Council on the financial and service impacts of the policy on City purchases.

COUNCIL POLICY

Council policies indirectly related to the issue of sustainable and ethical procurement include:

· Corporate Climate Change Action PlanThat staff report back on opportunities to establish an Energy Efficient Purchasing Policy by September 2004, and in the interim purchase Energy Star rated equipment and appliances where applicable;

· Contracts Goods and Services Policy - Environmentally Sound Purchasing

In order to contribute to waste reduction and to increase the development and awareness of environmentally sound purchasing of goods and services, contracts and tender specifications should be reviewed to ensure that wherever possible and economical, specifications provide for expanded use of durable products, reusable products, and products that contain the maximum level of post-consumer waste and/or recyclable content or that minimize environmental impacts.

This Report is submitted in response to Council direction to report on questions related to implementation of a Sustainable and Ethical Procurement Policy.

On April 8, 2004, Council declared “its intention to implement a Sustainable and Ethical Procurement Policy for the City of Vancouver before the end of the 2004 calendar year”, and resolved that “appropriate City staff be directed to report to Council within two months of the passage of this resolution on questions related to implementation of such a policy for City purchases of apparel, coffee and related items”.

DISCUSSION

1. Introduction

This report answers the questions asked by Council. It is understood that the intention of Council is to adopt a Sustainable and Ethical Procurement Policy “that will ensure that all items, including apparel, coffee and related items, purchased by the City are manufactured or grown in accordance with established international codes of conduct regarding wages, workplace health and safety, forced labour, child labour and freedom of association, as embodied in the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights and International Labour Organization Conventions”.

2. Staff Investigations and Research

As a part of the context for drafting a response to the Resolution of April 8, 2004 the following actions were taken:

On April 27, 2004, the City purchasing department convened a panel consisting of representatives from Vancouver Fire and Rescue, Vancouver Park Board, Vancouver Public Library, the Office of Sustainability, the Office of the Mayor, Purchasing, Central Stores, and Business Support Services. The purpose was to provide administration staff with increased awareness and sensitivity directly from a diverse set of stakeholders on the subject of ethical procurement and sustainability.

Presentations were made by local and national apparel suppliers, along with the Vancouver Fair Trade Coffee & Network, the BC & Yukon Building & Construction Trades Council, the BC Ethical Purchasing Group, the Social Purchasing Portal, Mountain Equipment Co-op, Vancouver City Savings Credit Union, and corporate social responsibility advisors.

Policies and practices of other local governments have been reviewed including Seattle’s innovative Copernicus model for local economic, environmental, and social development and policies of Toronto, Thunder Bay and Nanaimo as specific Canadian-based references. Experiences of Canadian universities were analyzed as well.

City Staff also attended the Simon Fraser University Ethical Purchasing Conference on May 7-8, 2004 to discuss the issues related to ethical purchasing policy development and implementation.

Discussions were held with other City departments regarding complimentary initiatives that related to ethical and sustainable purchasing to identify common interests, potential alliances and operational synergies.

3. Definitions

There is no single definition of Ethical Procurement. Ethical Procurement has been defined by the Ethical Trading Action Group as practices that “promote humane labour practices based on accepted international labour standards.” Usage varies, but ethical purchasing policies consistently include “no sweat”, often extend to “fair trade” and sometimes include sustainable practices.

The Canadian Labour Congress has described “no sweat” as follows: “Retailers and manufacturers are increasingly outsourcing the manufacture of their apparel products, searching the globe for the lowest waged production facilities and the most lax enforcement of labour regulations; and this race to the bottom is negatively affecting the jobs and bargaining power of Canadian organized garment workers and encouraging the spread of sweatshop practices in Canada; and employers purchase a significant amount of apparel products, including staff uniforms, and could therefore help eliminate sweatshop abuses by requiring that those products are made under humane working conditions, preferably in union shops.”

Fair Trade principles address the purchase of agricultural products, primarily coffee, tea, cocoa and sugar grown in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Transfair Canada states that “Canadian importers and distributors must follow certain criteria: pay a set minimum price that covers the costs of production, advance payments or extend credit to producers to help avoid debt while financing next year’s production, agree to longer term trading relationships that provide producers with added security to plan for the future and promote sustainable production practices.” Sustainable practices would include “shade grown” coffee plants grown with organic farming methods.

Sustainable Procurement has been defined by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as “the process in which organizations buy supplies or services by taking into account: the best value for money considerations such as, price, quality, availability, functionality, etc.; environmental aspects (”green procurement”: the effects on the environment that the product and/or service has over its whole lifecycle, from cradle to the grave); the entire Life Cycle of products; social aspects: effects on issues such as poverty eradication, international equity in the distribution of resources, labour conditions, human rights.”

Environmental/Green Procurement means goods and services purchased must be evaluated by environmental criteria that address recycled content, efficient use of resources, use of renewable rather than non-renewable resources, energy efficiency and waste and emissions in their manufacture. Food products purchased must be healthy - without biological or chemical contaminants, environmentally beneficial or benign in their production, and compliant with animal welfare standards.

Social and local procurement considerations state that ethical, fair trade and environmental principles apply most directly at home - within and around the City of Vancouver. Effective procurement can stimulate economic development in City communities such as the Downtown Eastside by integrating supply chain economics with corporate social responsibility to achieve community benefits.

Answers to Council Questions

The April 8 Council Resolution asked staff to report back with answers to six specific questions:

i) “What is the extent, purpose and value of city procurement of items that may be affected by this policy?”Annual apparel purchases are about $1.4 million - 48% by Vancouver Police Department, 39% by Fire and Rescue, and 9% by Engineering Services.

The City purchases about $3.7 million in food each year. The principal corporate buyers of food are Parks and Recreation, which sells food products through park concessions and golf courses, and the Community Services Group, which provides meals at Carnegie and Evelyn Saller Centres and at Gathering Place.

A comprehensive sustainable and ethical procurement policy could potentially apply to all City purchases, of all commodities, across all City Boards and Departments, amounting to between $150 million to $200 million each year.

ii) “What information does the City have now on the place and conditions of manufacture of these items?”

Current information is very limited. A few direct suppliers of apparel and apparel-related products (Claymore Clothes (1982) Ltd., Logotex Mfg. Ltd. and Tristart Cap & Garment Ltd.) have voluntarily provided information. The information provided by the suppliers gave no indication of any problems related to ethical purchasing. This information has not been verified because the City does not currently have a mechanism to do the verification.

The number of companies that report voluntarily is growing. The feasibility of obtaining third-party verification of these reports has yet to be determined. Mountain Equipment Co-op uses inspectors to review the manufacturing processes of suppliers, but such a commitment from the City would be extraordinary and likely not practical given the relatively small scale and scope of City procurement.

iii) “What would be the procedures under which a Sustainable and Ethical Procurement Policy for the City of Vancouver could be implemented?”

A policy addressing “no sweat” and “fair trade” can build upon the work of other organizations and adopt generally accepted standards. Existing policies of other organizations, such as the Maquila Solidarity Network’s “Model No Sweat Municipal Purchasing Policy” or Mountain Equipment Co-op’s “Sourcing Policy” can be customized and adapted to meet specific City of Vancouver requirements.

Initial implementation steps include requiring suppliers to sign off on the policy to create awareness and secure consent, obtaining disclosure of subcontractors and manufacturing locations and resolving related issues, establishing principles for monitoring and verification, defining reporting requirements, establishing complaint and investigation processes, and defining corrective action plans.

A policy cannot reasonably extend to every product and every supplier in every area of the City simultaneously. Effort must be initially concentrated on those procurement areas where worthwhile results may be achieved directly and immediately. These areas are to ensure that apparel purchased by the City is manufactured in conditions compliant with International Labour Organization conventions¹, and that coffee and other food purchased by the City is produced under Fair Trade conditions.

Legal review and participation is an essential element in procurement policy formulation.

A broad policy that additionally encompasses environmental and green procurement and social and local procurement would require a more sophisticated development process, featuring extensive consultation and participation among both internal and external City stakeholders.

iv) “What mechanisms, if any, are in place now to ensure that suppliers to the City of Vancouver are in compliance with International Labour Organization standards?”

The City purchasing department primarily focuses attention on direct suppliers, ensuring that where required they have a local business licence and have WCB clearance. No mechanisms are in place to ensure suppliers and any foreign or domestic subcontractors or distributors in the supply chain are in compliance with international labour standards.

v) “What other relevant factors or costs might be involved in the implementation of such a policy?”

A measured and cautious approach and carefully phased implementation will be necessary to address the sheer scale and distributed nature of City procurement activities adequately, and ensure that the critical supplier relationships essential for effective service delivery are not disrupted.

Also time must be given and assistance provided to help suppliers develop policy and reporting capabilities. City suppliers generally express willingness to comply with an ethical procurement policy, but request a notification period to give time to prepare. Suppliers caution that a too-sudden policy introduction could leave the City without sources of fully-compliant products. An additional supplier concern is the cost of compliance, particularly if certification must be purchased from third-party compliance auditors.

Cost may be incurred by the City as assistance may be required from auditing agencies, if feasible, to ensure that products supplied from third world countries meet international standards.

Leading organizations such as Mountain Equipment Co-op have begun to address the full range of ethical practices of their suppliers. The scope of this industry scrutiny is evolving, but so far is applied to few suppliers, and across a narrow range of products. However, a City effort could potentially gain considerable leverage by coordinating policy implementation phases with the steadily developing efforts of other organizations.

In addition to a phased approach, a second essential implementation requirement is pro-activity - working incrementally with a deficient supplier to encourage and reward improved practices. This approach can prevent disruption of the supplier relationships essential for City service delivery, and is ultimately more effective in achieving policy goals. Otherwise, if the City takes its business elsewhere, supplier practices will probably remain unchanged.

An illustration of the difficulty in applying a broader scope policy is purchase of jackets. Jackets must be manufactured under conditions compliant with International Labour Organization conventions. Embroidered crests must be similarly ILO compliant. But additionally, the jackets include components such as zippers, manufactured by another supplier. Fabric involves yet another supplier. Each individual supplier must be identified and evaluated not only on an ethical “no sweat” basis.

An ethical procurement policy could potentially have financial consequences. Cost of purchases may increase, and so may the time required to obtain those purchases. Additional administrative staff resources may be required, and it may be necessary to purchase third-party verification of vendor reports.

vi) “How are other municipalities/cities, such as Nanaimo and Toronto, and universities, such as Simon Fraser University, implementing a similar policy?”

Ethical procurement policies of Toronto, Thunder Bay and Nanaimo focus exclusively on banning the purchase of sweatshop-manufactured apparel. Policies are generally applied by requiring vendors to certify, when tendering, that apparel products are not produced under sweatshop conditions. The policies do not contain enforcement mechanisms beyond the legal principles that underlie any contract. Similarly, the policies do not provide for audit, verification or inspection of vendor certification. The policies were recently introduced, mostly in the past year, and infractions have yet to be encountered. Presumably any future complaints will be reviewed with the vendors by the municipality, with further escalation to legal avenues if required.

Nanaimo City Council passed a policy in 2003 which states that the City will “place a

term in its tenders, specifically for apparel for City employees. This term will advise suppliers that the City of Nanaimo does not wish to encourage the purchase of products manufactured in factories where children are used as slave labour or other exploitive circumstances that impede child development. This term holds the supplier to the commitment by asking the supplier to confirm in writing, compliance of this term in the bid response.”In 2002, Toronto City Council approved “a purchasing policy that will require the City to buy its uniforms and other apparel items from “no sweat manufacturers” that respect the rights of their workers regarding working conditions and pay”. The Toronto policy similarly depends on pledges signed by vendors.

Also in 2002, Thunder Bay Council passed a resolution requiring a “condition of contract” with respect to No Sweat Procurement. This condition of contract would advise suppliers that the City of Thunder Bay does not wish to encourage the purchase of products manufactured in factories where children are used as slave labour or other exploitive circumstances which impedes child development. The recommended condition of contract holds the supplier to this commitment by asking them to confirm in writing, compliance of this directive in their bid response. The City of Thunder Bay requires bidders for the supply of linens, textiles, uniforms, shoes or any product where possible exploitation of children in sweat shops exist to sign the “condition of contract” as part of their bid.

As of May 2004, ten universities across Canada have adopted ethical procurement policies. The majority of policies apply to retail book store operations only. Simon Fraser University has appointed an Ethical Purchasing Policy Task Force to work towards adopting a “No Sweat” and Fair Trade purchasing policy for products bought and sold at the university.

The University of Toronto became one of the first Canadian universities to develop a code of conduct for trademark licensees to ensure that manufacturers and suppliers of trademarked merchandise for resale through retail operations meet minimum employment standards regarding wages and benefits, working hours and overtime compensation. The code also has specific prohibitions on child labour, forced labour and harassment and requires licensees and their contractors to recognize and respect the right of employees to freedom of association and collective bargaining. The University of Toronto’s code, and the parallel efforts of McMaster University took more than three years to develop. The University adopted an approach that engages with current suppliers and uses the code for future contracts, once current contracts expire. Compliance and disclosure requirements have been implemented throughout the acquisition process. The university places an emphasis on working with non-compliant suppliers to address concerns and issues.

The City can, as a first phase, adopt the same approach as other organizations to focus first on an Ethical Procurement policy. This policy requiring vendors to certify that apparel is “no sweat” can readily be extended to certification that agricultural products are “fair trade”, and enforced in the same manner.

Such a policy would be “sustainable” as well as “ethical” in the sense that fair trade practices are not just fair to growers but also environmentally-friendly, and sweatshops may abuse not just their workers but the environment as well.

CONCLUSION

Council has resolved that the City will have a Sustainable and Ethical Procurement Policy in place by the end of 2004. It is evident that the policy must address the basic principles of ethical purchasing, by ensuring that apparel is not purchased from sweatshops and that coffee and other agricultural products are acquired from fair trade suppliers.

It is suggested that Council direct staff to prepare and present a draft policy for Council review to address the purchase of apparel and fair trade agricultural products in a manner similar to that of other local governments. Staff can report back at the same time on resources required to implement the recommended policy. After the policy has been in effect for one year, staff will be in a better position to assess the financial and service impact the policy has had on City purchases and report back to Council.

Council can direct staff, as a subsequent phase to prepare a procurement policy that includes not only sweatshops and fair trade, but goes much further to integrate a comprehensive range of environmental and broad social objectives. Such a policy is a considerably more complex undertaking, and will require a coordinated effort with other ongoing City initiatives and organizations.

The City will also need time and resources to build the internal capacity necessary to develop, implement and optimize a comprehensive sustainable and ethical policy. Efforts must be cautious and aim at making steady incremental change in supply chain relationships over time.

Key stakeholders must be engaged in policy development and implementation and suppliers must become partners in solutions. A stakeholder approach to policy development will ensure that the complementary and competing interests of key groups will be considered and that an approach to implementation can be agreed upon that will ultimately be both administratively practical and meaningful.

A Sustainable and Ethical Procurement Policy will be complimentary to other City initiatives such as the Sustainability strategic action plan, green building policy and Corporate Climate Change Action Plan. Therefore, the development and implementation of a comprehensive procurement policy will depend in part on coordination with the work being done on these other initiatives.

Posted in Government Procurement, Local Procurement, Social Procurement, Ethical Procurement, Green Procurement, Sustainable Procurement | No Comments »

IT is thinking green but not yet acting it

12. June 2007 by admin.

IT is thinking green but not yet acting it

Most survey respondents unclear on vendors’ environmental commitment

By Christopher Mines, Framingham | Monday, 11 June, 2007

Posted in Green Procurement, Sustainable Procurement, Green Purchasing | No Comments »

Nature group helps Epson with ‘green’ purchasing

8. June 2007 by admin.

Nature group helps Epson with ‘green’ purchasing

By Paul Snell

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in Japan has helped Epson produce an ethical paper purchasing policy.

WWF has assisted the Japanese printer and paper manufacturer to establish a new policy that ensures wood used in its paper has not been illegally logged and comes from sustainable sources. It also incorporates previous company guidelines on not using harmful chemicals in the production process.

It will be applied to paper produced in Japan immediately and to that produced overseas by 2008. Epson wants complete compliance with the policy by 2010.

Epson asked WWF for assistance after reading an earlier report by the group on ethical paper procurement. It explored the need for a balance between use and conservation of forests, and how to use wood in a more appropriate way.

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Government ‘goes green with office furniture’

8. June 2007 by admin.

Government ‘goes green with office furniture’…..”Given our purchasing volumes and our policy on green procurement, the government is well-positioned to have a significant and positive impact on the environment,” explained minister Michael M Fortier……

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INTERVIEW: Procurement professionals must drive green sourcing success

31. May 2007 by admin.

INTERVIEW: Procurement professionals must drive green sourcing success

Mike Arenth, vice president of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at spend management software specialist Ariba, argues that basic procurement management principles can be applied to drive green sourcing strategies.

BusinessGreen: How important is the issue of sustainability to procurement professionals? Aren’t they solely focused on value for money?
Mike Arenth: There’s no doubt green sourcing is a topic on almost every businesses’ agenda. Ariba recently did some research into the attitudes of 300 CPO’s [chief procurement officers] across Europe with the HEC [business school] in Paris and found that sustainable procurement is entrenched as one of their top three priorities. But at the same time we recently had a major conference of procurement professionals and over half of attendees said that while green sourcing was key to their corporate strategy they were not really aware of how to achieve it. The implementation is where people are struggling.

So how do you overcome those implementation problems? What best practices should businesses keen to achieve sustainable sourcing be following?
The first thing you need to get is visibility over who you are buying from and that is a huge issue before you even start to think of issues around sustainability. A lot of the time procurement managers only handle a proportion of total spend and areas like marketing spend and fleet spend are managed separately. Only a few CPO’s have 100 percent visibility over procurement and it is very tough to get the internal processes in place to ensure full compliance with any sustainable sourcing strategy without full visibility.

But even if you do have visibility over what you are buying what is to stop different departments still buying environmentally harmful products?
Once you have awareness over what you are buying and from whom the next step is to then set up a supplier performance management system where sustainability if a key KPI [key performance indicator]. Without procurement involved setting those KPIs people will just continue to go to the companies they know and internal compliance [with the sustainable procurement policy] will be compromised. With KPI’s in place they know their procurement performance is being judged on these environmental criteria.

How will monitoring supplier performance improve environmental sustainability?
By requesting environmental information you are asking your suppliers to become more accountable and then you can put that information into a balance scorecard and measure their performance, creating an incentive for them to improve.

How do you ensure that they are not simply passing environmental problems back through the supply chain to their suppliers? A manufacturer for example could simply pay a sub contractor to make the most polluting components and then tell their customers in all honesty that they had a good environmental record?
The end customers’ supplier performance management system has to go several stages back through the supply chain. You need an understanding of your suppliers’ supply base and what they are doing to transform their supply base. If you look at Wal-Mart’s sustainability strategy they are demanding CO2 reductions right back through their supply chain.

Is it fair to say only the largest companies can afford to set up such green sourcing strategies?
I don’t think so. These types of procurement systems and processes can be developed at the largest organisations and at the smallest. It all comes down to procurement having a key role in the business and the ability to assess suppliers correctly. It needs to become an embedded part of how you do business.

How difficult will it prove for firms to adopt these green procurement strategies?
Nothing here is that revolutionary. These types of systems and processes are already applied to cover non-green issues when firms are dealing with their suppliers. You already do a supplier audit to check they are complying with other regulations governing workforce diversity, workplace conditions, etc, so you can bring that same model across to cover environmental standards. If you are a manufacturer buying materials from China, for example, you should already use a third party auditor to check on staff conditions and the like so it is not a huge leap to get an auditor to look at environmental factors.

Procurement has never been regarded as that core by most businesses – will that attitude hamper the adoption of green sourcing?
Procurement is already transforming from a back office function to more of a business partnership and the whole green sourcing agenda is a big factor that will really accelerate that transition. If you are to have an effective green procurement strategy then the procurement professionals really do need to be working in close partnership with all other departments.

About Mike Arenth

Mike Arenth is vice president and general manager for Ariba in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

He joined Ariba in 2002 and before moving to Europe was managing director fo the software vendor’s strategy team in North America.

Before joining Ariba Arenth was a senior manager with Andersen Business Consulting. He holds a a B.A. in Economics from The Johns Hopkins University and an M.B.A. in Finance from The George Washington School of Business and Public Management.

Posted by James Murray on May 16, 2007 | Permalink

Posted in Green Procurement, Sustainable Procurement | No Comments »