Sustainable Procurement Summit

Inspires and Motivates

Sustainable Procurement

We had an incredible turn out and a great day of learning and networking at the Sustainable Procurement Summit at the David Brower Center in Berkeley, CA on April 18, 2019. We kicked off the event with an opening and welcome from Sustainable Procurement Working Group (SPWG) leaders, Darin Matthews and Heather Perry, and UC Berkeley’s (host campus) leadership in Supply Chain and Sustainability, Russell Chung and Kira Stoll.

Bill Cooper set the tone by outlining UC’s major achievements in 2018 and discussing future initiatives, including sustainability's integration into SupplyChain500, how our efforts fit into the larger sustainability movement, and UC’s roadmap to our new Sustainable Procurement policy and goals.

Highlights from the Summit included:

An eye-opening session on the actual environmental impact of packaging and food service ware labeled as: recycled content, recyclable, bio-based, and compostable by David Allaway (Senior Policy Analyst, Oregon Department of Environmental Policy).

A presentation on Sustainability Criteria for SaaS (Software as a Service) IT products by Roshni Pratap (IT Commodity Manager, UC Systemwide) and Sarah O’Brien (Director of Programs, Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council - SPLC). Their content and supplier questions are available to UC staff and SPLC members for use in sourcing events.

A question-and-answer session with a panel of key UC suppliers on How UC Suppliers Address Sustainability moderated by Justin Sullivan (Director of Strategic Sourcing, UC Procurement)

Concurrent workshop sessions on salient topics, including:

  • Green Product Criteria
  • Integrating Sustainability Criteria into an RFX
  • Campus Realities and the Changing Recycling Market
  • Economically & Socially Responsible Spend
  • Tools to Help Buyers Make Sustainable Purchasing Choices
  • Understanding the 2020 Foam Packaging Ban
  • How to ‘Green’ Labs
  • EcoVadis Supplier Scorecard Demo

We wrapped up an incredibly edifying and inspiring day with David Phillips (AVP, Energy and Sustainability, UCOP) illustrating how procurement fits into the larger context of sustainability at UC, and where we go from here as a system and as advocates for a sustainable future.

By Stephanie Lopez - Manager, Special Programs, UC Procurement Services

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