Sustainable Procurement
Ensuring that procurement policies and practices incorporate sustainable development considerations is part of the commitment and measures of the United Nations System in making its operations more sustainable. Sustainable Procurement could be described as an “acquisition process whereby organizations meet their requirements for goods, services, works and utilities in a way that achieves value for money on a whole of life basis in terms of generating benefits not only to the Organization, but also to society and the economy, whilst minimizing its impact on the environment.”
The Environment Management Group has been working on this issue for a number of years by firstly analyzing the integration of sustainable procurement practices in the UN procurement function (2005-2006), and subsequently focusing on the development of practical tools, guidelines, training and policy advice to assist the UN system agencies in making their procurement more sustainable (2007-2009). This work is carried out in close cooperation with the UN High Level Committee on Management Procurement Network so as to connect sustainability and procurement expertise and provide concrete and practical advice to UN procurers. A second phase of this joint work is under preparation for the years 2009-2011.
Concrete outputs :
a) The delivery of training on SP in several duty stations (Rome, Bangkok, Panama, Berne and Geneva) and awareness raising sessions in 3 more duty stations (Nairobi, New York and Brindisi)
b) Development of sustainable procurement guidelines for 7 products
c) Development of a Guide on Eco-labels for UN Procurers
d) Agreement from the HLCM Procurement Network on a Sustainable Procurement Statement providing agencies with a common language on SP
e) Collection of good practices across UN system on Sustainable procurement
f) Initial Sustainable Procurement Indicators developed and included in the United Nations Annual Statistical Report on Procurement 2008
In addition, the connection established among the EMG and the HLCM Procurement network allowed the UN Secretariat Procurement Division to collaborate with UNEP and EMG in the drafting of the “Comprehensive Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Procurement activities, Addendum II: Sustainable Procurement (A/64/150 temporary code)”. Such report is the response to the request made by UN member states to clarify the concept for Sustainable procurement, and provide guiding criteria including detailed information on its possible impact on the diversification vendors. This report will be discussed at the General Assembly 64th session in October 2009.
Background Paper on Sustainable Procurement and Environmental Management Programmes for the UN System
EMG Analytical Paper on Sustainable Procurement in the UN System