Sustainable Procurement Pledge: Shaping Global Collaboration
In 2019, Thomas Udesem, CPO of Bayer and Bertrand Conqéret, CPO of Henkel, established the Sustainable Pledge (SPP) with the belief that the decision-making power of procurement professionals must be harnessed to accelerate and scale impact in supply chains.
Alongside passionate volunteers, they led SPP as an international bottom-up and non-profit organisation in the first three years – and continue to actively steer the organisation’s strategic direction.
What is the SPP?
The Sustainable Procurement Pledge believes sustainability must be embedded in all procurement practices by 2030 in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and Science-Based Targets.
The SPP helps deliver this through its global, non-profit community of procurement practitioners that empowers, equips and inspires the procurement profession and leadership.
Through its support, the SPP provides easy access to best-practice knowledge, tools, a peer-to-peer network, collaboration and innovation needed to drive change – for procurement, by procurement.
As a non-profit, all the knowledge, content, tools and events are available to all procurement professionals at no cost and with no commercial agenda. The group also commits to being inclusive and collaborating with organisations that align with its mission to help more procurement professionals access their support.
By helping connect and coordinate to reduce duplication of effort and drive change faster, together. SPP also encourages collaboration across industries, along value chains, in all geographies, categories and topics.
Championing procurement
The SPP created the League of Champions in 2021 to offer support to procurement leadership and organisations to better engage and capability-build their procurement function on sustainability.
This is done alongside the champions and the wider SPP community through:
- Contributing knowledge and experience to peer-to-peer exchanges, learning, networking, and collaboration to collectively shape the future of sustainable procurement leadership
- Quarterly group meetings, and additional engagement opportunities, virtual and in-person, with SPP Community and ecosystem partners
- Empowerment of procurement teams to engage with SPP, including appointment of one team member for the Transformational Panel.
The number of champions is growing quickly, with companies like Allianz, The Lego Group and Colgate-Palmolive being part of it.
Following this year’s World Sustainable Procurement Day, Pfizer, BAE and SAP Ferrero were among the latest companies to join the league.
Those responsible for embedding sustainability in procurement of the Champions also join SPP’s Transformation Panel. They work together to better capability-build their procurement function and provide an advisory board for the SPP’s strategy and delivery.
The SPP supports the Champions to empower and equip their procurement teams by encouraging and providing access to a wide range of capability-building resources and engagement opportunities – developed for procurement, by procurement – across all regions, sectors and issues.
World Sustainable Procurement Day
The SPP held its third event on World Sustainable Procurement Day this year, bringing together procurement professionals for collaboration for the good of people and the planet.
This year's event featured 24 sessions led by 99 speakers, showcasing a global surge in engagement both online and through in-person events worldwide. The collaboration with the Euclid Network Impact Summit in The Hague marked the creation of the first WSPD Hub, enabling live-streaming between the two events.
This year saw remarkable global engagement with online attendance increasing by 20% and numerous in-person team viewing events that united procurement communities from Shanghai to New York.
Mélissa de Roquebrune, the EExecutive Director of the SPP, says: “I’m immensely proud to have witnessed the tremendous eagerness for learning and collaboration within the sustainable procurement community, which illustrated remarkable global interest, fostering a culture of continuous exchange on an impressive international scale. WSPD has truly become a key annual milestone for the procurement community.”
The sessions covered various sustainability and procurement topics, including human rights in supply chains, Scope 3 emissions management and supplier diversity.
Discussions also explored social procurement and emerging trends like integrating AI and technology for sustainable practices.
WSPD 2024 served as a platform for sharing strategies, success stories and lessons for a sustainable future in procurement, embodying a "For Procurement, By Procurement" ethos.
Joe McClain, Director Supplier Diversity and Sustainability at Eaton, a member of the SPP Champion Program, adds: “We are thrilled by the overwhelming participation and the impact of the event, underscoring the growing importance of sustainable procurement in today’s global economy.
“Our company became a proud SPP Champion to engage our procurement professionals in the pivotal discussions and actions necessary for driving sustainability in global supply chains.
"Our engagement is aligned with our mission: to improve the quality of life and the environment using our power management technologies and services."
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