The CCSP is Kicking Off Its 14th Year!

This year, the Canadian Collaboration for Sustainable Procurement is entering into its 14^th year of operations! On February 2^nd, we were joined by new members, returning members, and guests from various public-sector organizations from across the country to kick things off. We are so  excited to see how CCSP members will continue to collaborate and progress the sustainable procurement movement in 2023.READ MORE

Seeking the B in Sustainable Procurement

Procurement is the engine of an organization’s ESG strategy and is a key leverage point to address fundamental challenges like climate change, social inequity, and reconciliation. With so many products and services to choose from, and an increasing call to integrate sustainability considerations into the selection of goods, services and supplier, how do procurement teams navigate the challenge of making the very “best value” selection.

Integrating sustainability criteria into procurement decisions isn’t always easy and with a growing interest in ESG it can be difficult to distinguish the good from the greenwashed. Sustainability requirements for brands have led to greenwashing – sometimes making it extremely challenging for buyers to know how to differentiate what is a truly a more sustainable product or service.READ MORE

5 Sustainable Procurement Take-Aways from GLOBE ’22

Last month, Reeve had the privilege to attend – in person – the latest biannual GLOBE business and the environment conference which convenes world’s leaders in sustainability. There were many notable events, including the latest announcement from the Canadian government, unveiling their new plan to curb GHG emissions by 40% to meet their 2030 targets. In our corner of sustainability namely, scope 3 emissions, circular economy, and sustainable procurement, we saw more movement this year than ever before. The conversation is accelerating, and the standards are increasing.

Here are five key take-aways from GLOBE:

1. Circular economy: There’s a new collective understanding that a transition to a more circular economy will require more than siloed innovation. Rather than focusing on innovating products alone, we must reimagine how our supply chains function to allow for broader collaboration over competition. There is ample opportunity to reimagine how we consume and create products, together. Systemic challenges require systemic solutions.

2. Indigenous procurement: Achieving a just transition requires us to adapt our current colonial structured systems and reintroduce Indigenous principles and frameworks. There are nearly 60,000 Indigenous businesses in Canada that are operating in every industry, that could meet up to 24% of the federal government’s current spend, but as it stands, only 32% of federal contracts were awarded to businesses being managed and led by Indigenous Peoples. Adapting our systems will involve “sharing the whole”, where we make a deliberate effort to source from Indigenous businesses.

3. The Nexus of Labour and Climate Change: We learned that this isn’t going to be a matter of inclusion, but a matter of necessity. Minister of Labour Seamus O’Regan spoke to the concept that our workforce will be the cornerstone of the clean energy transition, and true action on climate change targets here in Canada. The conversation is no longer focused on ‘including’ marginalized groups, Indigenous peoples, or equity-seeking suppliers, but rather on the necessity of involvement from these groups, which must continue to be championed and improved by the private sector and government.

4. Stories from Survivors of Canadian Climate Events: we witnessed the Chief of Cooks Ferry First Nation located in Spences Bridge, BC recount her remote community’s experience throughout the horrific impacts of wildfires and flooding. These climatic events displaced many members of their community, forcing them to abandon their homes and relocate for many months at a time. The Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada, Steven Guilbeault, acknowledged that Canada’s climate adaptation response requires action more action. Establishing and clearly defining levels of responsibility and roles for federal, provincial, and municipal government, as well as private sector actors, will be key in mitigating the adverse impacts of displacement of these remote communities, who will continue to encounter climatic events.

5. Intersectional environmentalism: Much of the discussion across the week focused not only on reducing emissions and meeting climate targets but incorporating much needed changes into new infrastructure and systems that includes an intersectional lens, considering inclusivity, diversity, climate equity and justice. We can’t be sustainable without true inclusion.

Following GLOBE, it’s now about putting words into action. Net zero commitments only work if there is a roadmap to get there in a way that works. We’ve heard some impressive pledges from Governments and businesses in recent years, but now folks are starting to talk about to make them happen, in practical terms. Here at Reeve, we help organizations turn their promises into measurable and tangible results. To us, GLOBE 2022 felt like a shift from platitude to progress, echoing the idiom, and Reeve principle, that actions speak louder than words.

Read the Latest and Greatest Sustainable Procurement Trends and Success Stories from the CCSP

CCSP releases its 12^th State of the Nation Report on Sustainable Public Procurement in Canada

Have you been wondering how to get started on sustainable procurement in your institution – or feeling disconnected from what others are working on? Take a look at the Canadian Collaboration for Sustainable Procurement’s 2021 Annual Report on the State of Sustainable Procurement in Canada.

Download from here.

Drawing on the hard work and success stories of the CCSP’s network of 40 member institutions from coast to coast, this report highlights sustainable public procurement best practices, emerging and evolving supply chain trends, and real developments and stories from Canadian public sector organizations.

In the face of supply chain chaos, climate change, and increasingly prevalent human rights violations, CCSP members have invaluable access to a community of practice with a common goal of aligning their sustainability values with their purchasing practices – this report shares what they’ve been up to in 2021!

What’s in this years’ report?

Discover how the CCSP defines sustainable procurement through recognizing environmental, social, Indigenous, and ethical pillars. If you’re looking for guidance on the building blocks of a program, check out our Best Practice Framework for High-performing Programs (pg. 11).

Read on to see what else you can find in the report.

• 2021 Trends in Sustainable Procurement – We featured a fresh take on ten hot topics in sustainable purchasing across the country. Things like the burning call to action in the face of climate change, sustainability for food services, and expanding EDI through the rise of JEDI.

• Member Benchmarking and Program Developments – Wondering how our members become sustainable procurement champions? Head to this section to see the ever-popular Moon Chart Ratings for each member and their main developments across the 10 Program Elements.

• Member Success Stories  – This is where you can see CCSP members in action. From the City of Calgary and City Vancouver activating on social procurement, to Indigenous hiring at the City of Winnipeg’s Millennium Library, to electric bikes and busses in the District of Saanich and City of Brampton. These folks are ‘doing the doing’ in sustainable procurement.

• 2021 CCSP Operations – A brand-new section to the CCSP Annual Report, providing a snapshot of network activities, charting elements like our time investment across services, Peer Exchange speakers and topics, and the geographic distribution of our members across Canada.

Despite the setbacks our world has faced in the last two years, we’re honored to have witnessed our members strides in sustainable procurement, and to share them through this year’s Annual Report.

Please navigate to our ABOUT CCSP page to download the full report, and contact Amanda Chouinard, Program Manager, if you’re interested in learning more about the community.

ccsp@reeveconsulting.com

Supply Chain Chaos: Is Sustainable Procurement a Solution?

Over the last two years, the flaws in our global supply chain have become increasingly and painfully obvious. Vulnerabilities in the complicated web of imports and exports have become glaring in the wake of extreme climatic events, political instability, and trade wars. We’ve witnessed huge shipping delays as a result of in-shoring and insourcing, relying on suppliers located in climatically or COVID-19 affected regions, labour shortages, and operational inefficiencies at ports worldwide.

Amidst this chaos, it could just be the right time for leaders in procurement and supply chain to act cohesively. What we’re seeing is an opportunity to reimagine sourcing and supply ecosystems to make them less susceptible to disruptions. The convergence between supply chain and procurement functions is an essential part of solving the global crisis facing our world today. Tighter integration to more sustainable procurement efforts helps support supply chain functions when disruptions happen. It can mitigate overall risk by allowing enterprises to gain a better understanding of potential disruptions in advance, and ensure that procurement practices are aligned with the supply chains’ specific requirements.

It’s important to recognize the fundamental differences between procurement and supply chain management. Procurement emphasizes the input process, the purchasing and acquiring of the goods and services needed to run your business operations. Supply chain management focuses on output and delivery, encompassing how the supplies from procurement processes are transformed into finished products and delivered to end-users.

Despite their key differences, supply chain management and procurement both offer massive opportunities for corporations to embed sustainability and inclusion into their business models – a transformation that is a priority at corporate executive tables. Supply chains have finally got C-suite attention, and are being recognized as a critical driver for growth. The pandemic has forced companies to shift their focus towards creative and innovative solutions, restructuring their business models to ensure maximal resiliency, continuity, and flexibility.

In order for companies to adapt properly to changing signals in demand, they need to collaborate with their suppliers on demand planning and forecasting, capacity planning, orders, and quality management. We believe that folks really are beginning to strategically leverage procurement and as a tool to mitigate supply chain disruptions, identifying and implementing alternative sourcing strategies for essential products and critical services.

An exciting year ahead for CCSP

The Canadian Collaboration for Sustainable Procurement kicked-off its 13^th year of operations at its first Peer Exchange webinar of the year on February 10^th. Returning members, new members, and guests from across the country convened to share stories, plan for the year ahead and welcome our new CCSP Program Manager, Amanda Chouinard.  Amanda has been a member of the Reeve Consulting team for a few years and is taking her passion for sustainable procurement to new heights in leading the CCSP.

The CCSP was happy to bring together our network of organizations spanning the entire public sector from all levels of government, universities, and crown corporations. Program Director, Tim Reeve, reiterated the CCSP’s vision for sustainable procurement which is firmly rooted within four pillars of sustainability: environmental, social, Indigenous, and ethical. We also heard about the importance of not only building out the 10 elements of a good program, but also not letting procurements go by without actively integrating sustainability criteria.

We were proud to hear from CCSP members sharing both their 2021 successes and goals for 2022. City of Ottawa boasted both financial savings and significant GHG reductions through the purchase and installation of electric boiler systems. City of Calgary has started seeing the positive impact of their Public Value Through Procurement Policy and Benefit Driven Procurement Strategy. While Thompson Rivers University showed us the community and environmental value of purchasing local tables made from salvaged wood. The City of Winnipeg also spoke to their recently approved Sustainable Procurement Framework, and the City’s plans to refine a 3-year Action Plan for improving social and Indigenous procurement. These stories were just a sneak preview of the 2021 Annual State of the Nation Report (coming soon in March 2022).

Looking ahead, members provided input to the CCSP team on what they’d like to see covered during this year’s Peer Exchanges. Members highlighted interest in topics such as:

• Matchmaking Increasing Indigenous procurement
• Addressing circularity and GHG’s through RFx
• Developing KPI’s and other tools like supplier sustainability assessments
• Incorporating sustainability into commodities like construction, food services, and IT

The CCSP team discussed potential areas of growth for the program, based on the results of the ‘Future of CCSP’ survey. We look forward to continuing this conversation with members as the year progresses.

We also welcomed the 2022 Steering Committee members, a team of inspired leaders ready to provide strategic guidance to the CCSP team throughout the year:

Darren Tompkins, Manager of Purchasing, City of Kelowna

Corinne Evason, Contracts Supervisor, Materials Management, City of Winnipeg

Matt Sutherland, Procurement Leader in Supply Management, City of Calgary

Shelly Morrison, Senior Director, Financial Services and Strategic Procurement, UBC

Erin MacDonald, Senior Procurement Consultant, Finance and ICT, Halifax Regional District

Find out more:

Click here to learn more about joining the Canadian Collaboration for Sustainable Procurement, or email ccsp@reeveconsulting.com for more information. Members gain access to a network of almost 40 institutions across Canada, and to a regularly updated Resource Library with tools and valuable materials for learning to champion and implement sustainable procurement.