Guide to the Business Case & Benefits of Sustainability Purchasing

The Guide to the Business Case and Benefits of Sustainability Purchasing is a one-stop resource that helps business, non-profit, and government organizations improve environmental and social conditions through purchasing, develop better relationships with suppliers, reduce costs, and ultimately build a more sustainable economy.

Sustainability purchasing is a management process used to give preference to suppliers of goods and services that demonstrate positive social and environmental impacts. It entails looking at what products are made of, where they have come from, who has made them, and how they will be disposed of at the end of their life — even considering whether the purchase needs to be made at all.

This resource tool is intended for use as a guidance document for organizations that are thinking about, or are in the process of, developing an internal business case for sustainability purchasing. It contains 80-plus examples and case studies to help them tailor their sustainability purchasing programs to their unique circumstances and priorities, and illustrates how to manage and leverage the costs.