In our Ethical Issues in Business page we look in brief at business ethics, but here we focus a little on ethical and green procurement in particular. All companies have suppliers of some sort, so ethical and green procurement policies are applicable to all businesses.
The core concept of ethical and green procurement is probably that terms between a business and their suppliers should be mutually beneficial and fair. This goes deeper, however, and there are a few areas to consider in putting together an ethical and green procurement policy. On the ethical side, fairness is paramount and this should include the fairness of your supplier to their staff and supply chain. Areas such as labour rights and health and safety are prime considerations, with topics such as ensuring fair wages more applicable to particular industries and countries. Procuring Fairtrade products may also be a consideration. An ethically-minded supplier should have no issue with providing information on their in-house ethics to even a small customer. Fairness also applies to the selection process within procurement. It is important that companies of different sizes, for example, are given due consideration.
On the green, or environmental, side, an ethical and green procurement policy can also include areas such as the sustainability of the resources used with regards to raw materials. This might be that your company wishes for all relevant products to be organic, recycled or FSC certified, for example.
An ethical and green procurement policy will be individual to each company as the types of product and range of suppliers will vary from business to business. Ultimately, however, fairness and integrity are paramount and environmental issues should be considered wherever possible.
The Institute of Business Ethics has more information on this subject.
