Sustainable procurement is a process whereby organisations procure their needs for goods, services, works and infrastructure in a way that achieves value for money on a life-cycle basis while addressing equity principles for sustainable development, therefore providing social, environment and economic benefits.
Procurement is considered sustainable when organisations broaden this framework by meeting their needs for goods, services, works, and utilities in a way that achieves value for money and promotes positive outcomes not only for the organisation itself but for the economy, environment, and the society as a whole. This is often referred to a the Tripple Bottom Line (TBL).
Sustainable Procurement takes into account the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) that includes, Social, Environment and Economic considerations.
- Social – address issues of social policy, such as inclusiveness, equality, international labor standards and diversity targets, regeneration, and integration.
- Environment – 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.
- Economic – Often differences in the purchase price between a non-sustainable and sustainable alternative are negligible. Yet even where the sustainable option costs more upfront, savings of energy, water and waste over the lifetime of the product or service can provide significant financial savings.
Sustainable procurement aims to promote conservation and responsible management of resources by using renewable or recycled materials wherever possible and reducing waste
For various governments, sustainable procurement is typically viewed as the application of sustainable development criteria to spending and investment decisions. Given high-profile socioeconomic and environmental concerns such as globalisation and climate change, governments are increasingly concerned that our actions meet the needs of the present without compromising the needs of the future.