Sustainable Solutions
Welcome to the Sustainable Solutions home page.
This area of the website has been designed to provide information, help and guidance on where Buying Solutions' products and services can assist in the delivery of sustainability within government procurement.
Sustainable development will be a huge driver for change in the 21st century. Challenges such as global warming are leading to changes in society's expectations and behaviours, new legislation and new risks and opportunities. Public sector organisations are faced with the challenges of delivering better services, more efficiently and yet more sustainably.
Right across the public sector, organisations have sustainability objectives to achieve.
For example, the Energy Services Directive* makes it a legal responsibility for every public sector body to purchase energy efficient products. In central government, all departments have SOGE* targets (Sustainable Operations on the Government Estate) to meet, covering areas such as carbon emissions, water consumption, waste and recycling.
Procurement professionals have a key role to play in enabling their organisations to meet the challenges of sustainability. In Buying Solutions we recognise these challenges. We are committed to helping our customers achieve value for money in sustainable procurement.
Buying Solutions' customers can source a range of goods and services to help them meet their sustainability goals, such as renewable energy, sustainably sourced timber products, water-saving devices and environmental consultancy. But, like the rest of the public sector, we can do much more. Our ambition is to become exemplars in delivering sustainable procurement and we are doing this by:
- making it easier for customers to identify products and services meeting agreed sustainability standards, such as Defra's Quick Wins
- working with suppliers and customers to identify new, more sustainable products and services
- investing in professional development for our staff, to make sustainability an integral part of all category management activities
- working closely with key stakeholders, such as OGC's Centre of Expertise in Sustainable Procurement (CESP) and Defra
- making our own operations more sustainable and learning lessons to share.
Good procurement is sustainable procurement. We are always keen to hear more from customers, to understand your sustainability needs, and to work with you to help you deliver.
