Saint-Gobain: Procurement's Role in Sustainable Construction

The Sustainable Construction Barometer, developed by Saint-Gobain's Sustainable Construction Observatory, offers procurement professionals insights into market readiness, supplier capabilities and purchasing considerations.

By examining how sustainable construction is understood and implemented throughout the sector, these insights could influence long-term procurement strategies.

It explores insights across more than 30 countries to identify regional priorities and disparities that procurement teams need to consider when developing sourcing strategies.

Procurement implications

Saint-Gobain is a French multinational manufacturing company, aiming to lead in light and sustainable construction. The company designs, manufactures and distributes materials and services adapted to specific markets. Its solutions are innovative and integrated to provide strong performance and sustainability for its customers. For procurement leaders, understanding how major suppliers approach sustainability could inform vendor selection and long-term partnership decisions.

The construction industry has begun its decarbonisation journey, as it is historically an emissions-heavy sector. In 2022, it was responsible for approximately 33% of global carbon emissions, with more than 50% of that caused by the use of cement. This creates significant pressure on procurement functions to source lower-carbon alternatives while managing cost considerations and performance requirements.

Leading companies are now championing sustainability, adopting circularity into their operations or focusing on decarbonisation strategies. Through this, they have found that impact can blend with profitability throughout their projects.

"Sustainable construction is progressing. But it is not accelerating at the pace we need, yet," explains Thierry Bernard, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Southern Europe, Middle East and Africa Region at Saint-Gobain.

"The number is improving, but it reveals something important. The challenge we face today is not rejection. It is hesitation. And hesitation is something we can work on.

"We are at a turning point. Awareness is high, the need to act is widely recognised and the solutions are available. Yet there is still a gap between ambition and execution. Closing this gap is now our collective responsibility. To do so, we need to move from a discourse of ambition to a discourse of proof."

The barometer is a quantitative study across stakeholders and citizens in 30 countries. The stakeholders – made up of construction professionals, students, members of associates and local officials – answered through a self-administered online questionnaire, whereas the citizens answered in an online omnibus questionnaire.

Market readiness for sustainable sourcing

The barometer reveals a clear gap between ambition and implementation, with companies worldwide struggling to implement real change across their projects. This gap has direct implications for procurement functions attempting to source sustainable materials, as supplier capabilities and market maturity vary significantly across regions.

As a result, the integration of sustainability is uneven across regions, meaning it is not a natural consideration into cost and performance strategies. This unevenness could mean different approaches are required across global procurement teams, depending on regional supplier capabilities.

The report has revealed five key takeaways for the construction industry, exploring the gap between intention and ability to scale these impacts.

"Expectations are evolving, but they are not yet consistently reflected in decision frameworks. The question is therefore shifting: under which conditions sustainable construction becomes, early on, a rational choice," adds Fabienne Robert, Director, Sustainable Construction Observatory and International External Relations at Saint-Gobain.

"This also reframes the challenge ahead: creating the conditions for large-scale adoption. We must make sustainable construction more understandable, more measurable and more actionable for all stakeholders. This is precisely the ambition of the Sustainable Construction Observatory."

Core considerations

The barometer has revealed five main areas where there is a disparity between stakeholder ambition and citizen realisation, each with specific implications for procurement strategy.

1. Sustainable construction is unevenly adopted
Even though 67% of stakeholders and 39% of citizens claim an understanding of the concept – alongside 94% of stakeholders and 84% of citizens having an awareness of it – the awareness is varied across regions and countries. The awareness is lower in Asia-Pacific (58%) than in the Middle East (75%), but even countries in the same region have great disparities.

For procurement professionals managing multi-regional sourcing, this variation could mean that supplier engagement and capability building need to be tailored to specific markets.

2. Benefits should be better highlighted
Resilience is gaining favour as a driver of sustainable construction. Recent editions show it has repeatedly increased as an important factor for both stakeholders and citizens. Procurement teams could leverage this growing focus on resilience when building business cases for sustainable material sourcing, linking long-term value to supply chain stability.

3. The value of sustainable construction
The barometer reflects a split belief in value as a driver – 47% of stakeholders believe it drives more value than traditional construction, but only 34% of elected officials say the same. Those against it cite excessive costs and a lack of performance guarantees for users. This presents a challenge for procurement functions, as cost justification remains a barrier despite growing awareness. Leaders need to demonstrate that there are tangible benefits from sustainable construction.

4. Gaps between intention and action
Though 87% of stakeholders believe the projects should go further, momentum is based on cooperation and there is a continuous delay between intention and action, with only 32% of professionals routinely assessing carbon footprints. Though 55% of leaders 'intend' to carry out projects, only 30% already do. This gap could indicate that supplier claims around sustainability may not always translate to actual practice, suggesting the need for robust verification processes in vendor selection by procurement leaders.

5. Citizen impact on deployment
The barometer explores how citizens are impacting the acceleration, as 63% of citizens view the development of sustainable construction as a priority. Growing public pressure could influence procurement priorities, as end-user expectations increasingly factor into purchasing decisions.

The gap is clear between intention and action, but ongoing visibility and clear benefits of action are slowly driving the increase of implementation. For procurement leaders, this research suggests that engaging with suppliers on transparency and measurable sustainability outcomes could become increasingly important in vendor relationships.