Sustainable procurement must take into account " the carbon weight " of suppliers

Improving its GHG footprint requires a commitment from its suppliers to improve theirs.

Companies are increasingly committed to taking action against global warming. The reduction of their emissions is imperative and can be achieved through different approaches such as reducing their energy consumption. However, there are other ways of reducing emissions that have a significant environmental impact. In order to be part of a responsible, societal and sustainable approach, the purchasing function must weight the carbon weight criterion in the evaluation and referencing of its suppliers in line with its own environmental commitments. 

"The Upstream Carbon of one is always the Downstream Carbon of the other

We cannot maintain our own carbon competitiveness without imposing it on our suppliers. The fight against climate change is global and everyone must act. Suppliers must therefore include the emission factor for each item in their price list, i.e. indicate the volume of greenhouse gas emissions generated to supply the product or service in question.

There are several categories of emission factors: 

Monetary emission factor, by type of product or service, composite (calculated from the material and energy composition of the product or service), by unit of work (calculated analytically from the material and energy consumption of their product or service related to the overall carbon footprint of the company).

Only the last two factors represent an appreciable reality of the carbon weight of the products or services purchased. It is therefore essential to have the supplier's "own" emission factor.

It should also be noted that an averaged emission factor is often higher than the company's actual emission factor, and penalizes the carbon footprint of its customers.

The Responsible Purchasing approach, which is a corollary of a Low-Carbon trajectory, must integrate the management of the environmental performance of its suppliers on a long-term basis. 

To commit each of them to provide their "Carbon Weight", companies have a collaborative interface on the GCI platform.

The integration of responsible purchasing in a GHG inventory®.

The transition to low-carbon energies and the improvement of energy efficiency are necessary steps to limit global warming and meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a priority and the goal of carbon neutrality a necessity for the environment.

 Companies and local authorities therefore have a major role to play in engaging their social responsibility, which will be reflected in their voluntary contribution to sustainable development. Fighting against global warming must be part of the new objectives of organizations.

The realization of a complete Carbon Footprint is part of this approach. This is a true Carbon Inventory because, in fact, the simple accumulation of emissions caused by each of the company's activities and consumption. Through its three regulatory scopes, it perfectly integrates all the emissions of an organization. After this inventory, which will highlight the main emission items, it is then necessary to reduce them as much as possible by developing a personalized action plan.

Scope 1 represents direct emissions, scope 2 indirect energy emissions and scope 3 all other indirect emissions, including those resulting from purchases, which can account for up to 90%.

These purchases of materials, products, services and utilities represent the area with the greatest potential for reducing emissions.

The importance of the carbon weight of purchases is steadily increasing with the tertiarization of the economy and the increase in imports of manufactured goods with a high carbon content, such as electronics or automobiles.

The imperative of responsible and decarbonized purchasing must therefore be increasingly emphasized in the strategy of companies. It will allow a significant decrease in emissions and thus reduce the carbon weight of a company and, very soon, the associated taxes. 

In order to be effective, it requires that the precise emissions of suppliers be taken into account and that this criterion be implemented as an essential complement to the classic quality/price ratio.

At the same price, the carbon weight of a product or service can vary from simple to double, even more!

What is responsible purchasing? 

Afnor defines responsible purchasing as the purchase of goods or services from a supplier or service provider selected to minimize environmental and societal impacts and to promote good practices in terms of ethics and human rights. 

Responsible purchasing is therefore characterized by the consideration of three criteria:

• Environmental: energy use, reduction of raw material use and greenhouse gas emissions, conservation of natural resources, and waste treatment;
• Social: respect for human and labor rights, consumer protection, respect for community rights and treatment of animals;
• Economic: fairness of trade, quality-price ratio of the product.

According to the ADEME (French Agency for Ecological Transition), the implementation of sustainable procurement is a unifying project, a vector of innovation and value creation, which also has advantages for companies:

• Better control of costs and risks;
• A more sustainable and secure supply;
• Stronger competitive advantage;
• Better image with partners and customers;
• Compliance with government regulations.

In addition, the adjective "responsible" refers to corporate social responsibility (CSR).

In this sense, responsible purchasing has an ethical dimension. A responsible purchasing policy can also lead to giving preference to suppliers and service providers from the social and solidarity economy (SSE).

Involve and enhance your suppliers with the GCI platform

Thanks to the online services of the GCI platform, which offers collaborative management and monitoring of the environmental performance of its suppliers, the concept of Sustainable Decarbonized Purchasing becomes real and concrete.

Any company and its suppliers can carry out their complete Carbon Footprint online, calculate and exchange their composite emission factors and by Work Unit.

Suppliers will thus make their emission factors available to their customers, directly integrated and controllable on the platform.

GCI users have a "mailing" utility that makes it easy for them to request and track the emissions factors of their suppliers' products and services and to integrate them directly into their GHG assessment calculations. 

The GCI platform has been designed so that each user is autonomous and can carry out a complete, exhaustive and precise assessment of all of these emissions by dynamically associating all of its internal ecosystem, its subsidiaries and specialized entities, and its external suppliers.