Sustainable procurement aims to reduce the adverse environmental, social and economic impacts of purchased products and services throughout their life, making sure that the products and services an organisation buys have the lowest environmental and most positive social and economic impacts.
Purchases and supplies have become essential aspects when an organisation considers requirements for sustainable development, social responsibility, and fair and just commerce.
According to ISO 26000 Social Responsibility principles, it is the responsibility of any organisation for the societal and environmental impacts of its decisions and activities. Practicing sustainable procurement is one of the ways an organisation can contribute to sustainable development.
The National Waste Policy: Less waste, more resources contains strategies to improve the use of resources in Australia. One such strategy is for all governments to embody and promote sustainable procurement principles and practices within their own operations.
The Sustainable procurement guide describes a number of ways to do this, such as using the value for money assessment and understanding the supply chain. It provides measures that can be used in any procurement within the requirements of the Australian Government financial framework.
Standards Australia has formed a technical committee ME-024 Sustainable procurement to mirror the work of ISO on this standard. CFA has a representative on the committee.
CFA provides volunteer representatives on Standards Australia Technical Committees as part of the CFA Standards Project; if you are interested in finding out more about the Project and/or becoming a volunteer CFA Standards Representative please contact the Standards Coordinatorstandards@consumeraction.org.
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