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
