Supply & Demand Chain Executive Magazine December Feature Story
Robert Menard, Certified Purchasing Professional, Certified Professional Purchasing Consultant, Certified Green Purchasing Professional
The December issue of Supply & Demand Chain Executive will be devoted to sustainability. It will feature a story called “Green Purchasing, Sustainability, and Cost Savings”. I authored this story to clearly demonstrate that the very underpinnings of sustainability are found in green purchasing. Sustainability is all about preservation and conservation. A synonym for those words is savings, the forte of the purchasing profession.
The story cites many instances of how cost savings come in tandem with true sustainability efforts. Let’s explain using the fundamental example of energy as cited in the story.
Assume a business chooses to buy higher priced “green” electric energy in a noble but misguided attempt to reduce fossil fuel usage, Green House Gas (GHG) emissions, and to help develop solar, wind, and other “alternative” energy sources. For a fixed amount of electricity, all the purchaser has accomplished is to pay more for the green energy because in fact, the electricity is generated by the local fossil fuels burning utility.
The physics involved in electricity generation and transmission necessitate localized plants and grids. Green electricity is not being packaged at a remote wind or photovoltaic farm and delivered by UPS to be plugged into the buyer’s power feed. Further, when the local electric utility receives payment, it collects what is owed, and forwards the premium onto the so called green generator with no sustainability gains having been accomplished.
Green Purchasing and Sustainability
This charade does nothing to save money or the planet or natural resources. A business organization is far better served by investing in technologies to reduce electricity consumption like soft starts (frequency inverters) on its motors, upgrade to more efficient HVAC equipment, retrofit its lighting, and deploy other proven measures, many of which have very short payback periods.
The first certification in green purchasing is also cited, the Certified Green Purchasing Professional established by the American Purchasing Society. CGPP assimilates the mastery of natural sciences blended with skills in accounting, finance, and economics to create a truly comprehensive and rigorous designation.