RFQ design and launch Sustainability criteria in RFQ: Formalize sustainability sections in RFQ templates, covering topics such as emissions data, life-cycle impact, circularity and energy use. Use scoring guidelines to ensure these inputs influence evaluations. Minimum entry requirements: Establish sustainability prerequisites, such as ISO 14001, relevant EN standards, or verified GHG inventories, to ensure baseline performance and simplify evaluations across suppliers.Carbon-adjusted pricing models: Include an internal carbon price to calculate a “true cost” that includes emissions across the full lifecycle of the product or service. Assign a high estimated carbon cost to suppliers that fail to provide credible data.12 Communicating expectations: Present sustainability expectations clearly. Provide toolkits or templates to support understanding and standardization of emissions data submissions.2 RFQ analysis and supplier negotiations Scoring methodology: Apply weighted models where sustainability has a quantifiable share (e.g. 10–30%) in award decisions, to elevate sustainability’s role from a mere tie-breaker. Supplier dialogue on emissions: Engage suppliers during negotiations to clarify expectations on decarbonization. Request formal commitments to improve performance over time.Data standardization tools: Use digital platforms to automate the collection of carbon data and comparisons across suppliers. Integrate with enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems to ensure consistency and support real-time analysis.3 Awarding and contracting Sustainability-linked awards: Prefer suppliers that demonstrate superior sustainability, even if their base cost is marginally higher. Suppliers see sustainability becoming a competitive differentiator. Sustainability clauses in contracts: Incorporate obligations for regular emissions reporting, science-based targets, corrective actions and consequences for non-compliance.Supplier code of conduct: Formalize expectations, communicate them during onboarding and monitor them over time. Codes should have escalation procedures, corrective action plans and support to address non-compliance.4 Supplier management Ongoing carbon and sustainability monitoring: Enforce structured data collection cycles, supported by dashboards that combine spending and emissions data. Sustainability audits: Conduct focused audits for high-risk or high-impact suppliers, to detail operational practices and inform corrective actions or future deselection.Penalty and incentive mechanisms: Reward strong sustainability performance while applying penalties for non-compliance. Governance alignment: Embed sustainability into scorecards and other elements of supplier relationship management.5 Every category strategy must include a position on sustainability, circularity and risk. It’s non-negotiable for approval. DHL Green Procurement Playbook: The CPO’s Guide to Delivering Value for Business and Planet 33

Green Procurement Playbook 2025