But how should you approach it, and which pitfalls can turn good intentions into unnecessary stress?
Let’s give you an idea what it entails to generate impact numbers and to make purchasing more sustainable:
Today's Lesson: Optimizing Procurement
How to effectively change purchasing practices
Number of the Day
AstraZeneca is coordinating with about 4000 suppliers to ensure more sustainable procurement practices. Even at that scale, they have managed to have more than 70% of their suppliers and partners (by spend) rated by EcoVadis. They aim to reach 95% of their suppliers by spend with science-based targets implemented, while also restructuring their strategies for key materials. This shows that there are strong incentives and that even at this scale, meaningful change is possible.
4000
Why Sustainable Procurement Matters
The first step toward more sustainable procurement is quantification.
Whether in a laboratory or a company, it’s about gaining an understanding of your impacts and those generated by your suppliers.
The Sustainable Solutions Corporation has created a helpful overview of the different categories of Scope 3 emissions. As you can see, there are many categories, which makes estimating them quite challenging.
Essential to know: what you will commonly see (and probably do first yourself) is a spend-based analysis.
In other words, there are databases that translate a dollar spend for a specific type of raw material, product, or service into a certain amount of carbon dioxide emissions.
Click to enlarge. The GHG Protocol has some guidance on how to calculate spend-based footprints. This is also why it’s so often said that companies aim to cover 90% of their suppliers by spend.
You can then add this up to arrive at a general baseline of your environmental impact.
Obviously, the only way to reduce your footprint with this method is either by ordering less or by assuming that sustainable products will be cheaper overall.
This is why my tip, as an advisor at this stage, is to clearly document whenever you switch to a more sustainable product in your procurement.
As Climatiq outlines, spend-based estimates come with the limitation that they do not include use-phase or end-of-life impacts, which need to be captured in other ways. Furthermore, if you decide to purchase, for example, bio-based tubes and they do not come at a lower price, you will not see the benefits reflected in these assessments.
Thus, if you work with a large database, it is helpful to document such changes so you can track them later.
And even if you are just a single laboratory, if you need to report, for example to funding bodies, this documentation will be useful.
Getting Footprint Data
However, the second step, of course, is to move toward more direct measurement of footprints.
Unfortunately, this is not always easy.
A Quick Shout-Out:
What is easy though, is using Labcon's Eclipse system. I previously reported on the most innovative tip refill system from Labcon and to what extend it is more sustainable. This little ad isn’t sponsored, I just wanted to give them a shout-out, as I believe innovation should be rewarded!
It is often the party that wants to drive change that needs to request and drive data acquisition from suppliers.
However, even with good intentions, many receive weak (or no) data from those operating in less regulated environments.
I have prepared a short overview to give you insight into how this process has worked for those who have obtained this data, including some pragmatic tips in case you aim to do the same.
What Can Be Improved
I often find that rethinking procurement is useful because to many, it's not always clear what sustainability means in this context.
Of course, environmentally friendly sourcing, choosing the right raw materials, and working conditions are important.
However, in R&D departments, for example, factors such as reagent consumption or required sample volumes are often overlooked despite having a significant impact on sustainability as well as on cost and scientific feasibility.
Of course, I chose this flow cytometer merely as an example, although these considerations apply to any instrument. Notably, end-of-life impacts are often difficult to estimate, and beyond resale on a secondary market or donation, the options are rather limited. In contrast, the opposite is true for impacts during the use phase, where significant improvements can often be made.
I found that for many manufacturers a key challenge is identifying where the greatest impacts occur - which often requires paying closer attention to end-of-life aspects.
For example, considering a switch to bioplastics means looking beyond just greenhouse gas emissions.
As we discussed previously, the “greenness” of a product depends very much on the boundaries you set for your analysis. Greenhouse Sustainability provides a useful overview of the different impacts that go beyond climate change (i.e., CO2e emissions).
In pharmaceutical and biotech companies, I often see that support is needed to properly document and communicate improvements to partners and customers.
In other words, more sustainable procurement is not just an obligation, it can also be understood as a business strategy for improving operations and marketing.
A surprising challenge is that suppliers do not always clearly communicate improvements in their products...
Finding the Greener Alternative
So how do you find the greener product? In my experience, it's a two-fold task.
To summarize briefly, one of the most useful labels currently available is the ACT eco-label from My Green Lab.
On the right is the ACT Ecolabel 1.0, and on the left its successor. You can read more about the ACT Ecolabel 2.0 here.
It provides detailed information about the environmental impact of instruments, chemicals, and other products.
Importantly, this is not a certification but a transparency label!
In contrast, common certifications you can assess include the Energy Star and EcoVadis.
However, there are caveats: while there is limited transparency for EcoVadis, for IPCC-related certifications it is important to review what exactly was certified because it's sometimes the documentation, not the lower impact itself.
I put together an overview of how to assess these labels & certifications here.
This brings us to the second task: doing your own independent research.
At present, it is often necessary to either work with experts or conduct your own research because the advantages that instruments and items offer are not always clearly communicated by suppliers.
Some companies I've spoken to don't consider sustainability as a marketing factor at all, requiring you to research and document yourself.
Applying the Knowledge
If you want to take action, start by identifying what you already know, what you can easily find out, and what requires more effort.
This applies to all aspects discussed: quantification, supplier practices, and internal awareness.
Optimizing procurement is not inherently complex if you clearly define your objectives and consciously address initial uncertainties.
To achieve this, proper communication and alignment are key. Whether it is you, a mediator, or established structures facilitating the process does not matter but at some point, this exchange will be necessary.
A key challenge is change management within organizations. Many companies aim to drive change but end up with generic ESG programs.
As a former scientist myself, I have seen that generic solutions rarely work, as laboratories often require specific materials and transport conditions.
Even when effective solutions are identified, scientists are naturally skeptical of changes that affect their processes.
Therefore, having someone who is perceived as knowledgeable, trustworthy, and who can address subtle but important details is essential.
How We Feel Today
If you have a wish or a question, feel free to reply to this Email. Otherwise, wish you a beautiful week! See you again on the 16th : )
Edited by Patrick Penndorf Connection@ReAdvance.com Lutherstraße 159, 07743, Jena, Thuringia, Germany Data Protection & Impressum If you think we do a bad job: Unsubscribe
Personal Note from Patrick, the Editor Hi Reader, what do you associate with procurement? For many people, it’s a technical term linked to paperwork and frustration. However, my goal is to show that procurement is much more tangible, and often simpler, than it seems. Let’s start by exploring what more sustainable purchasing of lab equipment involves and why it matters to you: Today's Lesson: Understanding Procurement What sustainable purchasing means and why it matters Number of the Day...
Personal Note From Patrick, The Editor Hi Reader, ever thought about more sustainable laboratory instruments? Lower energy consumption, sample volumes, and reagent use - but how can this be achieved without compromising performance? To show you, today’s sponsor - Waters - shares some unique behind-the-scenes insights. Over the past two years, I’ve worked with them to create resources that help you reduce the footprint of research. Here, we explore how improvements in HPLC and MS systems can...
Personal Note from Patrick, the Editor Hi Reader, laboratories can save plastics, reagents, and time through robotic automation. We discussed these advantages last time, and I recently posted about how you might finance your purchase - but everything has a flip side. That means if we implement automation incorrectly, we might end up with a much higher footprint. So, how do we do it safely? Today's Lesson: The Risks of Automation The potential downsides of modernizing labs Number of the Day...
