Environmental and Social Governance (ESG)

Procurement strategy

Our procurement strategy requires that the goods and services we purchase represent the best value for money by considering whole-life costs and quality. Sustainable purchasing meets this requirement by considering costs throughout the entire lifecycle of a product or service, and the most economically, environmentally and socially sustainable choices can be made.

Since we already estimate the entirety of our Scope 1,2,3 emissions every year; our aim now is to put in place more robust and fair weighting on carbon performance all procurement decision making when evaluating contracts going forwards. By doing this offers an evidence-based approach to incrementally bring our scope 3 emissions down.

Zero Ask toolkit

To support this, we are asking contract managers (buyers of outsourced goods or services) to use the “Buyers Zero Ask Toolkit” to help steer decisions and understand the carbon impact of our contracted suppliers and service providers.

To ensure providers deliver on their contractual carbon commitments, we provide a “Suppliers Zero Ask Toolkit” to help service providers with their carbon reporting and provide tailored sector-based guidance on how to reduce their carbon footprint.

Corporate procurement

We spend around £300m each year on goods, services and works. Council staff are aware of the need to consider the environmental, social and economic impacts of the goods and services they buy as well as the long-term financial cost implications. The smart decision accounts for lifetime cost as well as up front capital cost. Carbon emissions and cost can be closely related depending on the service and market sector.

Social value

Social value is a great way for us to seek benefits for our communities and residents when commissioning and procuring services, above and beyond the main subject matter of the contract. One of the main aspects of seeking social value is to ensure that we commission sustainably.