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Collaborate to enable broader change

By working closely with your sustainability team, you can combine their subject-matter expertise with your supply chain insights to advance value chain sustainability. You can also facilitate broader cross-functional collaboration by identifying other departments that would benefit from value chain insights. For instance, in the product design phase, procurement can offer significant value by highlighting potential supply chain risks and hotspots¹ or by sharing insights from diverse parts of the value chain.^² This information can inform product features to mitigate lifecycle impacts.³

Procurement can also challenge your design and development teams to look beyond incremental changes,⁴ fostering a culture of innovation and transformative, sustainable solutions.⁵ Try to ensure procurement is involved early-on in projects to provide input on the availability of sustainable options.⁶

EXAMPLE: Unilever involves a specialised procurement team early

Unilever’s “SWAT” team, a group of procurement professionals, provides procurement solutions across the global supply chain. Empowered to make decisions, they promote sustainable procurement by mitigating risks, engaging suppliers on sustainability, and spearheading innovative procurement practices.⁷

EXAMPLE: Merging procurement and sustainability functions

Some companies, including Mars, AB InBev, and Puma, have merged their sustainability and procurement functions to better manage and mitigate value chain risk.⁸ ⁹ ¹⁰

EXAMPLE: Purchasing requires sustainability expert support

In the City of Copenhagen’s public administration, an environmental expert is now a compulsory member of any working group set up before a tendering procedure is launched.¹¹

EXAMPLE: Danone merges key parts of its procurement and sustainability functions

Danone has created a Cycles and Procurement Department to “ensure the long-term availability and viability of key inputs (milk, sugar, fruit, packaging, etc.).”¹² This function combines strategic sourcing with sustainability and is central to the company’s sustainability approach.¹³

EXAMPLE: Global Brewer forms cross-functional sustainability committee

A global brewer assembled eight functional heads from commerce, production, and procurement to form a cross-functional sustainability committee. They meet regularly to discuss their concerns and agree on addressing value chain sustainability issues.