How to choose Eco-Conscious suppliers ?

 Hi all,

I am Pranav Surendran, 2nd year MBA student. Today, I would like to share a few insights on how to choose eco-conscious suppliers.

Consumers are becoming increasingly eco-conscious and hence companies are going great lengths to present themselves as environmentally friendly.

The term Greenwashing originated in 1960s when hotels encouraged guests to reuse their towels, presumably to lessen water consumption and chemical use, when real motivation was to save themselves the cost of laundering the towels. Greenwashing companies might think they reap the benefits of customer perception and brand loyalty without switching to sustainability but later when truth would be discovered backlash would be severe. Truly green companies apply sustainable practices throughout their operations.

Here are a few tips and recommendations on how to ensure your company's green practices make meaningful impact and stand up to scrutiny:

 1. Understand your company's sustainability targets, and convey them to procurement team.

 2. Know how your current suppliers meet their sustainability goals

 3. Centralize and consolidate eco-conscious spend data

 4. Expand partnerships with green /sustainable suppliers by tracking certifications and relevant experience in supplier master or supplier network

 5. Look at you supplier's supplier -as a company's suppliers may be working with other companies that expand their actual sustainable supplier spend.

The goal is for stakeholders, suppliers and customers to look favorably on corporate efforts to go green and provide moer sustainale world. Companies that put these programs in place must bear the responsibility for ensuring that they go beyond greenwashing to deliver meaningful impact.