Free Download Cathy Berry, "The Sustainable Procurement Guide: Procuring Sustainably Using BS 8903"
English | 2011 | ISBN: 0580698610 | PDF | pages: 216 | 1.6 mb
This book, and the accompanying guidance, BS 8903, is all about trying to translate between procurement and sustainability language to make unfamiliar concepts and terms work in a way we can understand. This is quite a task. Procurement professionals tend to use quite precise language, with objective tender evaluations, precise contract clauses and regimented performance and risk management programmes. Sustainability is contextual and will vary between organizations as they take a different view of how their business interacts with the society and environment around them. For example, the world faces the universal problem of climate change. According to most scientists the world is warming at a rate that will ultimately limit the ability of the human race to survive on earth. This is coupled with an exponential rise in the population and industrialization of countries with massive populations such as India, China and Brazil, leading to more emissions and a strain on finite natural resources. There is also a constant dilemma of global or local sourcing; procurement people have spent decades chasing the money in a global search for cheaper labour and materials. On the other hand, organizations with a high level of interaction with their local community such as local authorities or businesses with a local impact such as developers or operators of public infrastructure have a desire to see more business done with the communities in which they operate. For the procurement professional it feels like they are being asked to solve world peace and hunger with no help or guidance about how to do it.