Sustainable Procurement Practices prosperity

Procurement is a major aspect of our business and we spend over €1 billion with our suppliers every year. Part of being a sustainable business is influencing change. It is important that we encourage our suppliers to meet the same sustainability standards that we set ourselves. By focusing on our supply chain, we can reduce risk to our business, develop a better supply chain and deliver improved solutions for our customers.

Due to the nature of our business and global presence, our supply chain is very complex, connecting with over 30,000 suppliers from all parts of the world. In 2017, we initiated the use of the Supplier Code of Conduct as an integral part of contract templates and began to communicate with our suppliers about their need to commit to it.

We also designed an assessment questionnaire for new suppliers. This includes sustainability questions as a first step towards ensuring we are adding the right partners to our supply chain.