Chan Ee Chong
Lead Consultant
Over twenty years in wealth management and business consultancy, with ESG project experience across South-East Asia.
ESG advisory · Wealth management · Business consultancy
View Chan Ee Chong’s profile// ESG & Sustainability
Sustainable Procurement
Build sustainability requirements into how you buy, not into a policy nobody applies.
Supplier requirements, assessment criteria and contract terms that make sustainability part of procurement decisions and give you the supply-chain data you are being asked for.
// Context
Why this matters
Supply chains carry the majority of most organisations' environmental impact and a significant share of their social and governance risk. They are also where the organisation has influence but not control.
Procurement is the point where that influence is exercised. If sustainability requirements are not in the specification, the evaluation criteria and the contract, they are not in the relationship.
This work also produces something increasingly needed elsewhere: supplier-level data. Organisations building Scope 3 inventories or responding to customer requirements find that the procurement process is where the data pathway has to be created.
// The engagement
How CER helps
- Spend and supply base analysis to identify where impact and risk concentrate
- Supplier segmentation by risk, spend and influence
- Sustainable procurement policy development
- Supplier code of conduct
- Prequalification and tender criteria design
- Supplier assessment and due diligence process
- Contract clause development for sustainability requirements
- Supplier data collection approach, including emissions data
- Supplier engagement and capability building programme
- Monitoring, escalation and performance review process
// Deliverables
What you receive
- Spend and supply base risk analysis
- Sustainable procurement policy
- Supplier code of conduct
- Tender and evaluation criteria
- Supplier assessment questionnaire and scoring approach
- Model contract clauses
- Supplier engagement plan
- Monitoring and reporting framework
Frameworks and standards
- ISO 20400
// Fit
Who this is for
- Organisations required to demonstrate supply-chain due diligence
- Manufacturers building Scope 3 purchased goods data
- Public sector and large private buyers with procurement policy obligations
- Companies whose customers impose supplier sustainability requirements
// Why CER
Practitioners, not report writers
CER works from Singapore with organisations across Asia, which matters for this service because requirements arriving from European regulators, regional supervisors and local listing rules do not align neatly.
Engagements run through to implementation: the data collection process, the documentation, the controls and the internal handover, so that the second cycle is cheaper than the first and can be run without us.
Where an organisation would be better served by building the capability internally, CER Academy delivers the same technical material as training.
Meet the people behind the work// Our people
Expertise on this service
// Questions
Frequently asked
What is ISO 20400?
It is guidance on sustainable procurement -- how to integrate sustainability into procurement policy, strategy, process and supplier relationships. It is guidance rather than a certifiable requirements standard.
How do we get emissions data from suppliers?
Through the procurement relationship rather than a separate request. Requirements written into prequalification, tender criteria and contract terms produce responses; a questionnaire sent outside that process often does not.
What about suppliers who cannot meet the requirements?
Segmentation matters. Requirements proportionate to spend, risk and supplier capability produce compliance. Uniform requirements applied to every supplier produce non-responses and, sometimes, unnecessary supply risk.
Does this apply to services as well as goods?
Yes, though the material issues differ. For services the emphasis usually shifts from environmental impact toward labour practices, data governance and business conduct.
Related services and industries
// Related
Services that connect to this
Scope 1, 2 & 3 Emissions
Complete Scope 1 and 2 measurement, and a Scope 3 programme that starts with screening and prioritisation rather than attempting fifteen categories at once.
Scope 1, 2 & 3 Emissions: Explore this service
ESG Risk Management
Identification, assessment and integration of ESG and climate risks into enterprise risk management, with ownership, appetite and monitoring rather than a parallel register.
ESG Risk Management: Explore this service
Life Cycle Assessment
Product-level assessment following ISO 14040 and ISO 14044, from goal and scope definition through inventory analysis, impact assessment and interpretation.
Life Cycle Assessment: Explore this service// Sectors
Where this applies
Manufacturing & Supply Chain
Carbon measurement, Scope 3, supply-chain requirements and sustainable procurement.
Manufacturing & Supply Chain: View sector expertise// Insights
Related reading
Guide
Scope 3: where to start when fifteen categories is not a plan
Most organisations approach Scope 3 by trying to measure everything. Screening first is faster, cheaper and produces a more defensible result.
3 min read
Scope 3: where to start when fifteen categories is not a plan: Read articleDiscuss your sustainable procurement requirements
Tell us where you are now and what you are being asked for. We will tell you what closing that gap actually involves.
Building this capability internally instead? CER Academy delivers the same technical material as training.