Sustainable Supply Chain Management, Purchasing and Logistics

Purchasing/procurement by an organization can play a fundamental and powerful role in achieving more sustainable life cycle performances, allowing compliance with UN Sustainable Development Goals. Tenders and (de-)selection of suppliers send clear market demand signals which impact upstream life cycle actors and potentially provide them with additional reasons for the required business transformation—especially if this is complemented by a strategic partner approach and/or if the organization has a purchasing volume of interest for the upstream stakeholders. In addition, the evolving regulatory framework for sustainable supply chain management is described. Finally, assessment of the sustainability of purchasing decisions must also consider logistics. With a share of 60%, transportation is the biggest consumer of oil worldwide and accounts for around a quarter of global Greenhouse Gas Emissions from energy. This chapter describes opportunities to optimize logistical models to achieve the lowest sustainability footprint possible.