Last month, ERA hosted Jae Mather, CEO and Co-Founder of the Carbon Free Group, to share his insights on how businesses can utilize Procurement as a Lever for Sustainable Change in their ESG goals.
During a one-hour webinar, Mather outlined pressures put on companies by governments, supply chains, and consumers to operate more sustainably – and provided advice business leaders can utilize to enhance and measure these efforts meaningfully.
“Enhanced producer responsibility is becoming a factor in enterprise business,” Mather says. “We’re transitioning from short-term profit-driven into long-term value creation.”
Operating more efficiently and sustainably has been a hot topic in business for many years. As consumers become more conscious and concerned with the environmental impact of their purchases, they expect the same from companies whose products they purchase. Thus, the need to practice sustainable procurement is paramount in today’s market.
Mather defines sustainable procurement as purchasing that considers social, cultural, environmental, economic, and circular issues to establish the best value. Because of this, there are many opportunities to push boundaries and integrate sustainable practices in procurement.
“It’s important to think about sustainability from the get-go because it’s hard to incorporate sustainability elements after signing a five-year term,” Mather says. “Many businesses have tunnel vision and are only considering carbon emissions, but what about ecosystems and biodiversity impacts? It’s important to ask the right questions and create strong, clearly defined, measurable technical specifications.”
In considering the interplay between every aspect of the environment and production, business leaders are better equipped to achieve meaningful results for their ESG plan and ensure they aren’t guilty of greenwashing.
“Greenwashing is becoming a big issue for many big companies who have hung their flag to a mast saying they are sustainable,” Mather says. “When, in many cases, scratching below the surface shows, with some carbon offsetting, that they are not at all.”