A good CSR approach involves purchasing
Today, it’s abundantly clear: responsible purchasing plays an important role in helping companies to become more virtuous and move towards a sustainable economy. A good CSR approach necessarily involves the purchasing department. To help buyers evolve their choices and practices, there’s a guide that has reached consensus around the world: the voluntary NF ISO 20400 standard on sustainable procurement, published in 2017. A flagship document that was the focus of a meeting organized by the AFNOR Group, the Observatoire des achats responsables and A2 Consulting on November 17, 2022, the replay of which can be accessed here. Décision Achats magazine wrote about it here.
2017 is also the year when a new law arrives in France: the duty of vigilance law. This text requires companies to have a “probity reflex”: as principals, they must ensure that they do not undermine human rights and the environment at any time, and prevent the risks of corruption throughout their supply chain, by means of a vigilance plan. These provisions are now set to become European standards, as Dominique Potier, a member of the French parliament and a specialist in this field, pointed out at the AFNOR meeting on November 17.
Identify levers for progress
Both the standard and the law now view the company as a political player in the 21st century, participating in the life of society, and which the pursuit of profit should not prevent from acting to minimize its impact. The recently adopted CSRD directive is a step in the same direction, introducing exhaustive, standardized extra-financial reporting, with a wealth of ESG (environment, social, governance) data. This exercise will have an impact on the purchasing department, as it will be asked for some of this data. Here too, the voluntary ISO 20400 standard is a great help. Through the prism of suppliers, it offers an external view of the company’s practices, environment, social relations and performance. It sets out the levers to be used to move towards greater responsibility and exemplarity in purchasing. It’s an essential step in measuring progress, especially if the company enlists support to help it do better(see the Adisseo example below). ISO 20400 is not a certifiable standard, like ISO 9001 for quality or ISO 14001 for the environment, but if it is carried out properly, a self-assessment can eventually lead to certification, in order to highlight the efforts made and stand out in the marketplace. AFNOR Certification offers you AFAQ Focus RSE Achats Responsables, a sign of recognition for your commitments, issued following a third-party assessment.
Within responsible purchasing, solidarity purchasing
Five years after publication of the standard, the question of an update is on the table. Four countries responded positively to the consultation launched by the International Organization for Standardization (Australia, France, Norway and the Netherlands), with a fifth country expected to be decisive. In the meantime, the range of standards is growing: public purchasers will note the publication of the voluntary standard NF EN 17687 “Achats publics – Intégrité et responsabilité – Exigences et recommandations” (Public purchasing – Integrity and responsibility – Requirements and recommendations); players in the social economy the publication of the AFNOR SPEC 2202 guide on solidarity purchasing. Under the guidance of the Agence des économies solidaires, a subsidiary of the Les Canaux association, the latter originated in the ESS 2024 project, in the wake of the Paris Olympic Games in 2024. ” Many organizations want to get started, but don’t necessarily know how. This guide provides them with a methodology and concrete toolssays Caroline Molic, Director of the Agence des économies solidaires. The SSE includes many small and medium-sized businesses, not necessarily structured to meet all the conditions of a purchasing contract from a large group. We offer advice on how to adapt and make their contractual clauses more flexible, without putting yourself at risk. ”
The document also explains how to identify these structures, and points out all the advantages they offer. ” These are local players, local suppliers who offer jobs that cannot be relocated to people who are far from the job market. A real challenge for inclusion “appreciates Caroline Molic. A valuable resource for those wishing to emphasize solidarity-based purchasing as part of a broader responsible purchasing policy.
Adisseo self-evaluates its purchasing approach
Deborah Pinaire-Kien and Jérémie Caron coordinate the responsible purchasing approach at Adisseo, a major name in animal nutrition with 2,500 employees worldwide. We asked AFNOR to help us with our self-assessment,” they explain. Our 12 purchasing leaders operate in very different segments. AFNOR helped us to have the same understanding of the issues. Adisseo launched its first self-assessment with AFNOR two years ago, using the OK Pilot tool. One of the outcomes of this exercise was the creation of a Responsible Purchasing Committee, of which one of us is a member. ” One year later, a second self-assessment measured the progress made. The results are used as a reference. ” AFNOR’s involvement provides us with an external, objective view, enabling us to define areas for improvement in our practice. Our entities in China are currently in the process of self-assessment. And we’re lucky enough to have an AFNOR contact of Chinese origin! “they appreciate.
