Why is Sustainable Development Important?

When considering the sustainability of development across the world an enormous variety of issues are raised.Politics, religion, cultural beliefs ,everyday habits and a multitude of other factors will have an influence on how we live our daily lives.
While these factors are important there is a growing awareness of the need to urgently consider the impact that human activity is having on the earth. Politicians, business leaders, scientists and concerned citizens are all increasingly urging us to recognise one fundamental which will affect everyone on the planet. The health of the planet we live on is suffering because of the way we consume it's resouces. The rate at which we are using up the earth's finite resources and the quest for "economic development" being purued by all nations of the world cannot be sustained by the resources of the planet we inhabit. It is being increasingly recognised by decision makers across the world that the earth will not be able to support the growing human population if all nations continue heading towards the goal of "progress" as it has been defined up to now. Identifying this need to use the resources we have in a more responsible way and being willing to look at our own individual behaviour and also try to improve business behaviour is at the heart of the search for sustainable development.

A good working definition of sustainable development is-
"Sustainable development meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

Where does sustainable procurement fit into this?


Sustainability can be incorporated into all stages of the procurement process.
1. Identifying the need for a product or service and evaluating the options so that sustainability is looked on positively.
2. Including sustainability in product design and specification.
3. Selecting suppliers and evaluating tenders with sustainability used as an explicit criteria.
4. Continuing to raise sustainability as an issue in after contract development and supplier liaison.

Those involved in procurement in business and in the public sector have the opportunity to improve the efficiency of their own organisation by using tools such as whole life costing, the local multiplier effect , footprint analysis and a variety of other techniques available to the sustainable procurement professional. As well as improving their own behaviour in terms of it's impact on the environment buyers can place requirements on those further along the supply chain to meet specific standards if they want to enter into business contracts with each other. Supplier questionnaires and the need to meet contract tender requirements are a powerful argument if used in the correct way and for the good of the sustainable development cause.