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Sustainable development is described on the Scottish Executive web site as follows:
"The fundamental aim of sustainable development is to secure the future. We have seen how actions in the past have made life more difficult for us today. Developing sustainably means ensuring that our actions today do not limit our quality of life in the future. So our vision is based on the principles that we should:
- have regard for others who do not have access to the same level of resources, and the wealth generated
- minimise the impact of our actions on future generations by radically reducing our use of resources and by minimising environmental impacts
- live within the capacity of the planet to sustain our activities and to replenish resources which we use".
Sustainable procurement is the application of sustainable development principles to procurement and is a key activity in helping to ensure that the world remains habitable and that people have a decent quality of life. There is a wide range of approaches to sustainable procurement, which can be applied at all stages in the procurement process. One resource of particular interest is a Forum for the Future handbook on sustainable procurement
In both private and public sectors, there is increasing pressure from customers, clients, government and the public to put sustainable procurement into practice.
The 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development stated that relevant authorities at all levels should: "promote public procurement policies that encourage development and diffusion of environmentally sound goods and services". In response to this, the UK government has announced the development of a UK strategy for Sustainable Consumption and Production.
As a step towards implementing this strategy, the Government established the Advisory Committee on Consumer Products and the Environment. In a report published in August 2003, Towards Sustainable Products, this found that the Government should encourage environmental impact assessments of products in the design stage and tailor policies to specific products and issues, drawing from a 'tool box' of measures which include voluntary agreements, taxes and subsidies. The conclusions of this report are likely over time to have profound consequences for all public authorities, all manufacturers and all providers of services. Steps of the same kind are being progressively recommended world-wide and all forward-looking organisations should now look to review their stance on these issues.
A new campaign ("Procura+"), focusing on sustainable procurement in local authorities, was launched at the Eco-Procura conference in Sweden in September, 2003. Procura+ is an initiative of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), a global network of local governments. The aim is to mainstream sustainability in the purchasing of European cities through focussing on saving energy, reduction of chemical use and sustainable construction. For further information see an article in IEMA news. Given the purchasing power of local authorities, these policies will have a major impact on supply chains over time.
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