Green Procurement Playbook 2025

Sustainability considerations for the procurement process FIGURE 6 Source: Kearney, 2025. Pre-RFQ phase Internal carbon pricing: Assign a notional internal price to carbon emissions within the organization to influence procurement and investment, shift the behaviour of business units, guide sourcing strategy and elevate the environmental cost of high-emission options. Sustainability in supplier prequalification: Introduce sustainability-related questions into the onboarding process, supported by structured self-assessment questionnaires. These help identify gaps in supplier readiness before sourcing begins.Preferred sustainable supplier lists: Identify prequalified pools of suppliers that meet defined sustainability criteria. This reduces sourcing cycle time and allows buyers to focus on partnerships with proven performers. Supplier sustainability ratings: Draw on third- party platforms to evaluate suppliers based on independent metrics, such as emissions transparency and environmental management systems. These scores support supplier comparisons and segmentation.1 Green Procurement Playbook: The CPO’s Guide to Delivering Value for Business and Planet 32— Map emissions and risks to prioritize high- impact categories. — Apply internal carbon pricing early to guide sourcing strategy . — Align sustainability targets with procurement planning.— Use self-assessment tools to screen suppliers for sustainability . — Build preferred lists of prequalified sustainable suppliers. — Leverage third-party ratings to assess supplier maturity .— Embed sustainability criteria and PCF disclosur e in RFx templates. — Set minimum requir ements (e.g. ISO 14001 certification). — Define clear sustainability weighting in evaluation criteria.RFQ design & launch RFQ analysis & negotiations1 2 3 Pre-RFQ phase — Communicate expectations on emissions and data reporting. — Shar e templates or toolkits to standar dize supplier responses.— Adjust supplier quotes using carbon-adjusted pricing. — Penalize missing PCF data with high default estimates. — Use tools to compar e suppliers based on emissions data.— Ask suppliers for emissions reduction plans and targets. — Align on KPIs and reporting timelines during negotiations.Award planning Supplier set RFQ pr eparation RFQ distribution RFQ analysis Supplier negotiations — Rewar d suppliers that lead on sustainability – even if costlier — Favour long-term alignment with decarbonization goals.— Include clauses on emissions reporting and improvement targets. — Requir e adher ence to a supplier code of conduct.— Monitor emissions and progress with dashboar ds and PCF updates. — Conduct targeted sustainability audits wher e risk is high.Supplier management4 5 Awarding and contracting — Use incentives and penalties to drive supplier performance. — Integrate sustainability into supplier reviews and scorecards.Awarding Contracting Ongoing supplier engagement