Thursday, October 13, 2011

Green Sourcing Is Spreading Across the Globe

An interview with John Wilkerson, CPSM, SSMBB at Bellwether Services

Here's couple excerpts:

APQC: Why has green sourcing and sustainable procurement become an important topic?

John Wilkerson: Business leaders at organizations like Dell, AT&T, P&G, and the U.S. government understand our future environmental challenges and potential long-term global impact on
business and consumers

APQC: Where can someone find more research on green supply chains, green sourcing, and environmental management programs?

JW: Sites like www.apqc.org are good first steps. There is a nonprofit Web site, the Global Reporting Initiative, that offers additional guidance. That Web site has standards, metrics, best practices, and benchmarks for further study. The Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy have great free content. Another is the Green Confidence Index on the
Green Business website. The Institute of Supply Management recently published a Sustainability handbook that has best practices. The New York Times and the UK Guardian have a lot of content for advanced research on the green sourcing topic. The Guardian also has a lot of information about the carbon trade scheme in Europe.

4 comments:

  1. My worry is how do businesses in the north control supplies from developing countries? It is true there are mechanisms in Europe and N. America to trace and control supplies, but what about raw materials coming from developing countries, especially if they are cheap?

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  2. Sir,

    Depending on the industry, firms have the capability to track tier 1 / 2 /3 subcontractor parts today. Given global climate change pressures, I would expect developing countries to start reporting co2 emissions within a few years.

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  3. I have a question? What do students who are interested in a career in supply chain management need to know about greening of the supply chain?

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  4. Fran,

    A couple basic concepts are important; understand your future employers business need (ethics, marketing, value add, cost savings etc..) for greening the supply chain & understand the applicable standard (International, National, State etc..). This topic is very broad but this will get you started.

    Best,

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