Decarbonising our purchased goods and services
As part of our aim to be net zero by 2040 across our value chain, what the City Corporation buys, sells, invests in and leases to others, it is important that we change how we buy. Purchased goods and services is our third largest category of emissions regarding our value chain (Scope 3 emissions). Raw material availability and price add to the need for us to procure more sustainably.
We have established the Purchased Goods and Services Programme so we can collaborate with our suppliers to deliver low carbon and sustainable products and services without significant cost increases. Engaging with our supply chains will increase the opportunity to buy “green” products and services so they become the default purchase options.
We are rolling out action plans and carbon metrics with our highest carbon emitting suppliers for goods and services. These plans and metrics open the dialogue with our suppliers to enable collaboration and market insight around carbon reduction and environmentally beneficial activity.
These conversations have already led to a number of innovative, sustainable solutions to our products and services, including product switches to more sustainable options.
We have a number of ways in which we are reducing emissions across the supply chain:
- Upskilling: we have collated industry best practices and produced the Low Carbon Procurement Guidance. It aims to promote sustainable procurement when our departments purchase goods and services in a way that is beneficial to the built environment and their budget. It acts as an introduction to taking climate action, embedding equity, diversity and inclusion, and protecting human rights throughout the City Corporation as well as for communities and suppliers.
- Transitioning to electric vehicles (EVs): combustion vehicles are a key contributor to carbon emissions as well as reducing the air quality along their routes. Our suppliers often travel between sites, generating substantial carbon emissions. We encourage our suppliers to switch their vehicles to EVs. As EVs produce no emissions while on the road and minimal air pollution, overall carbon emissions from travel will be reduced and air quality improved.
- Catalogue spend: working with suppliers, we are increasing the visibility of “green” options by adding visual cues and creating specific catalogues to help staff make more informed choices. The definition of “green” varies so we include items which have a percentage of recycled content, are recyclable or are made from plant based/biodegradable material.
In March 2023 the City Corporation partnered with Avarni(external link), to provide a carbon reporting tool to suppliers that will deliver better visibility of our supply chain emissions and reduce the annual carbon footprint across purchased goods and services. To support this, Avarni have helped the City Corporation move away from high level spend-based proxy reporting and towards more contract specific data.
As part of the reporting tool roll out, our top 25 strategic suppliers were approached with a 98% engagement rate with the new process resulting in two thirds providing more accurate information. These 25 suppliers account for 7% of our supply chain spend. Purchased goods and services emissions for financial year 2022/2023 have reduced as a result.
In 2023, the City Corporation was audited against ISO 20400: Sustainable Procurement. ISO 20400: Sustainable Procurement (external link) looks at how to integrate sustainability into procurement practices, as well as the impacts these decisions and processes could have. ISO stands for the International Organization of Standardization (external link), an organisation of experts who define global standards across different sectors and areas such as products, services and processes.
Action Sustainability (external link) conducted our first audit, where we scored above average. The audit involved a review of our procurement policies, management systems and interviews with stakeholders to determine how embedded sustainability is within our practices.
We will continue to be audited against ISO 20400 bi-annually and with the recommendations outlined in the audit report, we will continue to improve our practices with each cycle of assessment.