Responsible purchasing

Responsible purchasing
Catch up in the race for sustainable procurement. Schools, universities, colleges need to incorporate sustainability into their purchasing processes, culture, operations, services and understand their influence. Sustainable procurement integrates social and environmental criteria in the procurement of products and services.  This means that in addition to conventional decision-making parameters such as price and quality, further parameters such as environmental friendliness and social justice are taken into account.
The Chair for responsible purchasing has benefited from corporate funding amounting to 120,000 € p.a. over the last few years, comprising Steering Committee composed of major French corporations and NGOs (e.g., SNCF - French Rail, L’Occitane, WWF). Chair members have carried out research, for example, into organisational issues raised when implementing a responsible purchasing function, factors preventing responsible purchasing policies, or the impact of labels on responsible purchasing practice.

A major recent project, led by Professor S. D’Antone, on “Aesthetics and its impact on Fruits & Vegetables consumption and waste” is run in collaboration with InVivo AgroSolutions (the first French group of cooperatives). It is in fact estimated that approximately 20% of produce or more gets thrown out for cosmetic reasons like weird shapes, odd colours, or blemishes on a peel you don't even eat. That's 1 in 5 fruits and vegetables getting tossed into landfill even though they're just as nutritious and delicious to eat. This issue is an international problem and should be tackled on a global level.

The chair has been very active in disseminating research results to the public. For example, it published a “Guide to responsible purchasing” from distribution to industry. This guide provides and identifies the obstacles and drivers in the implementation of a responsible purchasing strategy. It proposes a very pragmatic action plan, to help buyers and managers make their purchasing practices more responsible, avoid classic mistakes and give themselves greater chance of success, irrespective of the nature of their organisation (micro-enterprise, SME or corporations public or private sector, government, NGO etc.) 
By adopting a sustainable purchasing policy, KEDGE demonstrates that it is committed to reduce the environmental, social, and economic impacts of its purchases. 
Although the guide is in French, I invite you to click on the link below and have it translated in one of the numerous translators on the net.

Key figures

Partners