Why is it relevant to talk about the environment with purchasing pros? In fact, because much of the value-added passes through the purchasing division of companies, procurement is likely to cover a substantial part of a company's total environmental impact. Generally, 50 to 80 percent of the value in a company comes from procured value. Of course, not all of this spend is under management, but the potential influence of purchasing on environmental change is enormous. With globalization, companies import increasingly from regions and countries where environmental standards and practices are less robust than in Europe. Indeed, given the global development growth trends, it may be in emerging economies that the battle against climate change is going to be won or lost. In this battle, stringent procurement environmental regulations will become a very powerful weapon.

Supply and procurement sectors can play an important role in climate change also in connection to transport. Nearly 75 percent of all global trade is carried over the seven seas. A greening of supply chain management (SCM), for example through a reduction or rationalization of shipping distances or lower-carbon emitting choices of transportation means, can have a large impact on emissions

A hard task?
So why isn’t SCM already green? Greening a supply chain does not appear an easy task, at least not at a first glance. Several features of SCM can present obstacles to implementing greener supply policies and practices. For one, supply chains are heterogeneous: they take on a varying range of forms in different industrial sectors, and even for companies in the same sector, so that even to talk in general about green purchasing is not straightforward at all. (long article continued as pdf)

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