On 11 May, Barkers collaborated with Coupa Software and Positive Planet to deliver the Power of Procurement in your Sustainability Strategy webinar.
The online event brought together procurement professionals from across the country to hear from leading experts on how procurement is central to supporting an organisation’s ESG agenda. Attendees heard from Stephen Henry, Founding Partner of Positive Planet an organisation which guides companies towards a better way of doing business that benefits people, the planet and profits. Within the session Stephen talked about the importance of addressing scope 3 emissions since, for most organisations, between 70 and 90% of their carbon emissions lie in this area. Having covered the six pillars of a climate strategy, Stephen then spoke in-depth on a step plan to reduce organisation emissions from establishing an initial understanding of emissions through to collaboration and acceleration of progress.
Warren Kozera, Managing Director of Barkers then shared real-life scenarios of organisations engaging in ESG from small to medium enterprises, through to a national organisation and a global entity, highlighting the importance of category assessment to establish where greatest impact can be made.
Finally, Carl Thompson, Senior Value Solutions Consultant at Coupa Software discussed the value of technology in aiding an organisation to understand how to identify ‘green’ suppliers, using the power of a global community and verified content that allows users to search for and select suppliers based on ESG principles. This approach not only saves a procurement function’s time but also allows the system to be the organisation’s conscience, ensuring that procurement decisions are in line with company strategy and ESG policy.
Following the webinar Warren said ‘Every organisation is on their own journey when it comes to ESG and it’s important to consider why it’s important to your organisation. Stephen highlighted in the webinar today that organisation’s have different reasons for engaging in ESG strategies, and it’s crucial to avoid being in the ‘have to do it’ camp – because you’re forced into it by legislation for example. Waiting until you’re pushed means you’re behind the curve and it could prove more costly in the longer term. Official research shared at the IPSERA conference this year suggested that organisation’s that took direct action to reduce carbon emissions perform better financially too, so there’s also a significant financial incentive as well as the overarching principle that it’s the right thing to do to conserve our planet.’
Acknowledging that all attendees of the webinar will be at different stages in their journey, the panellists are delighted to be contacted to discuss the power of procurement in driving an ESG agenda in more detail. The webinar content can be viewed again by clicking on the link below:
