Sustainable Practices Policy Update

By Hilary Bekmann, Associate Director of Sustainability, UCOP and Stephanie Lopez, Special Programs Manager, Procurement Services, UCOP

The updated sections in the Sustainable Practices Policy will be renamed from “Environmentally Preferable Purchasing” to “Sustainable Procurement” in recognition that sustainability covers much more than environmental impacts.

During 2016-18, the University of California (the UC) undertook a complete rewrite and consensus approval for its Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Policy (the Policy). Changes to the Policy include a broadened focus, quantitative goals, and governance and ownership of the sustainable procurement function. The broadened policy focus includes consideration of Economically and Socially Responsible (EaSR) procurement.

Quantitative goals are set for Green spend, EaSR, and an innovative new metric called "the dollar not spent." The policy also addresses minimum sustainability criteria for solicitations to address all supply chain impacts from supplier operations and practices, supplier diversity, material attributes of products, health and well-being of supplier and UC communities, investment and more! In the new framework, responsibility for setting targets and measuring results resides with UC procurement staff and leadership and will be reported yearly in the UC Annual Report on Sustainable Practices.

The updated governance structures and new policy serves as the framework for systemwide progress against quantifiable sustainable procurement goals. It also provides the platform for training procurement staff, and the addition of flagging of green products and EaSR suppliers in our e-procurement platforms systemwide.

The policy provides a framework that will limit duplication of tasks across UC campuses as well as harness economies of scale and scope by addressing a shared vision for sustainability across the UCs addressable spend.  

Expect to receive an official announcement this summer when the update to the Sustainable Procurement Policy is approved by President Napolitano and published online. In the meantime, the Sustainable Procurement Working Group will be releasing dates for training webinars and additional guidance on the update to the policy over the coming months.

Have burning questions that cannot wait for the official policy release? Contact Stephanie Lopez: stephanie.lopez@ucop.edu