WA's 'Inconvenient Truth' event provokes thought

11 May 2009

The CIPS WA Committee recently held their third breakfast for 2009, and once again the event was a great success. Held at Central Park Theatrette, Perth on April 23, the event was well attended by a wide variety of organisations.

Guest speaker Clive Neilsen of the Portland Group, focussed on procurement’s environmental issues during his presentation, ‘An Inconvenient Truth – Procurements Role in Carbon Management’.

Clive’s presentation succeeded in demystifying some of the mistruths in the market about carbon management and the general opinion that carbon trading will only be of interest to those procurement professionals who operate within the energy/hydrocarbon categories. Clive detailed how every purchase will have carbon implications and as such will in the future be a major activity for a procurement organisation. He went on to highlight that there is an opportunity for procurement to take the lead and once again demonstrate value through a proactive approach.  

Whilst discussing the role of procurement in a carbon constrained world, Clive posed a number of key questions to be considered by the profession. Are the organisations contracts able to cater for this new price risk? How will you know whether the price increases are reasonable? Will you be able to differentiate your supply base and what sort of evaluation criteria will you use? 

In ending, Clive, offered some methods to tackle the new challenge: establish the carbon management requirements, develop a standardised approach, and finally, integrate with a standard procurement approach. The event was enjoyed by all and certainly posed a few thought provoking questions for procurement professionals to consider.