This Week's Top Five Stories in Procurement

What is Canada's new Domestic Defence Industrial Strategy?

The Canadian government has launched its first Defence Industrial Strategy to overhaul how the nation invests in military capabilities. Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the plan, which seeks to prioritise Canadian suppliers and materials while streamlining procurement processes. 

The strategy arrives as Canada moves to meet its 2% NATO spending target this fiscal year.

The initiative addresses long-standing complexities in defence acquisition that resulted in a reliance on international providers. By shifting focus toward domestic industries, the government intends to scale operations in the aerospace, cyber and maritime sectors.

Officials project that the strategy will support 125,000 careers and increase defence exports by 50% over the next decade.

Under the new framework, the government aims to raise the share of defence acquisitions awarded to Canadian firms to 70%. This shift is expected to grow industry revenues by 240%.

Serviceability targets for military equipment have also been established, with goals of 75% for maritime fleets, 80% for land fleets and 85% for aerospace fleets within ten years.

Jabil’s 47% Carbon Drop: A Win for Procurement

Procurement professionals are increasingly tasked with managing not just cost and quality, but the environmental footprint embedded throughout their supply chains.

Jabil, a global engineering, supply chain and manufacturing solutions provider, has published its Fiscal Year 2025 Sustainability Progress Report, outlining achievements during the fourth year of its five-year sustainability strategy. The report details progress on greenhouse gas reduction, waste diversion from landfills and community engagement initiatives.

According to the report, the company has reduced enterprise-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 47% compared to its fiscal year 2019 baseline through commitments to renewable energy use and energy-efficient solutions.

Having already achieved a 29% reduction by the close of fiscal year 2023, two years ahead of schedule, Jabil appears positioned to exceed its 50% reduction target by 2030.

The company also achieved more than 90% landfill diversion at 14% of its sites, building momentum toward its five-year goal of 20%.

Mike Dastoor, Jabil CEO, says: "At Jabil, we view the challenges of a profoundly changing world as catalysts for innovation and as a call to continue to integrate sustainability into the decisions that guide our business. I am proud of the progress that we have made.

Why Sustainable Seafood Matters This Chinese New Year

The Chinese New Year will bring families from across Singapore and Malaysia together, sitting down at the dinner table to enjoy steamed fish to mark the occasion.

The topic of how sustainably sourced a meal is is set to be a talking point for families this Lunar New Year. Research from the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) has shown that more than eight in ten Malaysians (85%) and nearly three-quarters of Singaporeans (74%) say sustainable seafood matters to them.

Deforestation-Free Soy: McDonald’s Sustainable Sourcing

McDonald's has joined the Responsible Commodities Facility (RCF), committing to finance deforestation-free soy and reduce environmental risk across its global chicken supply chain.

The move will see the company provide funding to support the resilient transformation of Brazil’s soy-producing Cerrado region, as related to embedded soy volumes in feed for chicken procured by the company outside of the United States and Canada.

This aligns with McDonald's sustainable sourcing strategy by de-risking embedded soy in tier-n chicken supply chains.

Accenture: Procurement as a Launchpad for Autonomous Savings

Procurement is a unique corporate function that combines strategic value creation with operational efficiency. It influences costs, supply risk and resilience – making it ideal for applying autonomous and AI-driven systems that balance scale with human oversight.

By embedding autonomy across sourcing, contract management, spend analytics and supplier risk, organisations can capture and sustain value, eliminate inefficiencies and fund wider transformation.

This is the view of Accenture's Kristin Ruehle, Sourcing & Procurement Managed Services Lead and Rob Fuhrmann, Sourcing & Procurement Practice Lead, who have penned an article outlining how a targeted AI approach to maximising value in procurement.

The pair believes that by blending augmented and autonomous sourcing approaches based on how complex each deal is, organisations can achieve 1-2% additional savings and 40–60% productivity improvements in both decision-making and execution, following analysis of client engagements.