Embedding sustainability through procurement and people: A cultural shift
When organisations advance their sustainability journey, the focus often falls on technical solutions — energy efficiency, waste reduction, or renewable energy. However, some of the most powerful drivers of change lie within your procurement and people and culture teams. These departments might not be the first that come to mind when thinking about sustainability, but they play a crucial role in transforming organisational culture and delivering tangible environmental outcomes.
The power of procurement
Every dollar your organisation spends is a vote for the kind of future we want to create. Your procurement team holds significant influence over your organisation's environmental footprint through purchasing decisions and supplier engagement.
Incorporating environmental criteria into tender evaluations is a game-changer. Organisations that include sustainability weightings — whether 5% or 20% — send a clear market signal. Requiring certifications like ISO 14001 not only enhances your supply chain's environmental performance but creates a ripple effect, prompting suppliers to lift their practices.
The best part? These initiatives often come at little or no extra cost. Many suppliers are already on the sustainability path — they just need customers to ask the right questions. For unsuccessful suppliers, providing detailed feedback on their sustainability performance can help them improve for future opportunities. This feedback might highlight areas where they need to strengthen their environmental credentials or where they might be relying too heavily on greenwash rather than demonstrable outcomes.
People and culture: Where values meet action
Your People and Culture team (or HR team) might not seem like the obvious sustainability champion, but their influence is invaluable for embedding environmental responsibility into your organisation's DNA. One simple yet highly effective approach is to include a sustainability action in every employee's performance plan. This could be as straightforward as using a reusable coffee cup or spearheading a waste reduction project.
The benefits of this approach are twofold: it personalises sustainability for each employee and reinforces that environmental responsibility isn't limited to the sustainability team — it's everyone's job.
Creating synergy between teams
The real magic happens when procurement and people and culture teams work together. These teams can create lasting change through coordinated action.
Procurement plays a vital role by:
Embedding environmental criteria in tender evaluations
Requesting sustainability certifications
Setting environmental performance standards
Tracking and reporting on sustainable purchasing metrics
Engaging suppliers in sustainability initiatives
Building sustainability into contracts and service level agreements
Meanwhile, People and Culture drives cultural change by:
Integrating sustainability into position descriptions
Adding environmental KPIs to performance reviews
Developing sustainability training programs
Recognising and rewarding green initiatives
Providing formal time allocation for green team participation and initiatives
Incorporating sustainability into induction programs
Starting small, building momentum
Transformation doesn't have to happen overnight. Start small and build from there. Maybe it's applying a 5% sustainability weighting to your next tender or including one environmental goal in this year's performance reviews. Consistent, incremental changes can drive significant progress over time.
Shaping the future
Sustainability isn't just about changing actions — it's about shifting mindsets. Engaging procurement and people and culture teams early creates powerful allies in this cultural shift. Every purchase order and performance review represents an opportunity to reinforce your organisation's sustainability commitments.
The most successful sustainability initiatives don't rely solely on technical solutions. They leverage the power of people and processes to embed sustainability into the fabric of the organisation. Your procurement and people and culture teams are essential partners in this journey, helping to drive meaningful and lasting change.