Sustainable purchasing is the next CEO challenge

According to our global study on sustainable procurement, C-level leaders inspire their workforce regarding sustainability, with CEOs taking responsibility and ownership of sustainable transformation as Chief Environmental Officers. They are creating the vision and strategy and supporting the necessary organizational change. To enable and support the people responsible for implementing procurement, CEOs and, to some extent, CFOs, must weigh budget allocation.

Ralf Dillmann, Partner Sourcing and Procurement at BearingPoint

A sustainable purchasing transformation is the next CEO challenge, with leaders inspiring their teams to act sustainably. Leaders need to take ownership to support the organizational change and required budget to make their strategy happen.

Ralf Dillmann, Partner Sourcing and Procurement at BearingPoint

As the study makes clear, sustainability has never been higher on the procurement agenda

There is agreement across regions, industries and teams that having a sustainable procurement approach is vital for a company’s future success. Surprisingly, even though all those surveyed consider sustainability a critical success driver, few companies claim to be already advanced in their sustainability journey.

There is a sizeable gap in perception between management and operations on how advanced their company’s approach to implementing sustainability is. Leadership positions are almost twice as likely to rate their company as highly advanced compared to operational roles.

76%

agree that a great deal of effort is needed and that more budget for IT systems needs to be allocated to track scope 3 emissions.

Top barriers to achieving sustainable ambitions

  • Insufficient training
  • Lack of reporting on supply chain sustainability/transparency 

Having a carbon emissions baseline measurement in place is a key success factor

The study highlights that measuring carbon emissions is a major step toward sustainability. Companies that calculate their carbon emissions are better prepared and structured for more sustainable sourcing and ultimately decarbonizing their supply chain.

Having a baseline enables reporting on sustainability performance (or, in this case, environmental impact), provides visibility on progress and, therefore, transparency to the C-level on investment payback. Companies using a baseline face much fewer barriers to implementing sustainable procurement than those without a baseline. Calculating and reducing Scope 3 emissions is a less complex task for baselining companies.

About the study

The results of our "Sustainable procurement pulse check 2021" are based on survey data gathered from companies across the world through an online questionnaire. 640 participants responded globally (200 in the US, 200 in Asia, 240 in Europe), with 39% working in sourcing and procurement and the rest in supply chain or sustainability departments. The main industries represented in the survey were manufacturing, automotive, consumer goods & retail, oil & gas, chemicals, as well as pharmaceutical, financial services, and telco & media. Data collection was conducted in the summer of 2021.

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