A standard that seems to be growing in demand, certainly this year, is ISO 20400 which is a guidance document on sustainable procurement. However, because it’s a guidance document, this means it’s not a certifiable standard… But, it is useful if you are looking at your procurement, supply chain and how sustainable it is as ISO 20400 provides you with everything that you need to know on how to manage your supply chain sustainably! A little background on the standard… The standard has been around for some time, but it was a British standard (BS 8903: 2010), we’ve been familiar with it for a number of years, and we’ve aligned this standard with some of our client’s environmental management systems. Why should it be something you want to consider doing? It could be beneficial for your organisation, not only from an operational point of view but also in terms of having a competitive advantage. So, let’s take a look at the standard… As we know, every single organisation on the planet has an environmental, social and economic impact regardless of the size of the organisation… Therefore, this particular guidance document is applicable to ANY size organisation across ANY type of industry, because those impacts have an influence throughout the supply chain. Procurement is a powerful vehicle for organisations wishing to behave in a responsible way and contribute to the sustainable development goals. By integrating sustainability in procurement policies and practices, it helps you to be able to manage your opportunities, risks and to focus in on those sustainable, environmental, social and economic development issues. Ultimately, sustainable procurement represents a real opportunity to improve productivity, assess value and performance throughout your supply chain, enabling communication between purchase’s, suppliers and all other key stakeholders and helps to encourage innovation. In this episode I will cover: [05:00] The definition of procurement and sustainable procurement within this standard. [06:16] Drivers for sustainable procurement within your organisation. [13:20] Clauses 1,2 and 3. [14:05] Clause 4- Understanding the fundamentals. [14:40] Clause 5- Integration of sustainability at a strategic level [16:06] Clause 6- Management techniques needed to successfully implement and to continually improve sustainable procurement. [17:00] Clause 7- Considerations for the integration into existing procurement processes. [19:08] The key principles of sustainable procurement.   We’d love to hear your views and comments about the ISO Show, here’s how: Share the ISO Show on Twitter or Linkedin Leave an honest review on iTunes or Soundcloud. Your ratings and reviews really help, and we read each one. If you’d like to get access to further information on ISO 20400, plus many other ISO Standards, check out the isologyhub which is an online membership platform, it’s a cost efficient and time effective way to implement your ISO standards and to get access to a wealth of information and guidance. There is an eLearning course you can get access to and an ISO 20400 checklist. So, if you want to find out more head over to: www.isologyhub.com