Decarbonising our purchased goods and services

In 2023, the City Corporation partnered with Avarni, to improve the visibility of our supply chain emissions and reduce the annual carbon footprint across purchased goods and services. We’re moving away from spend-based factors to calculate emissions and towards more supplier and contract specific data. 

As part of our 2024/25 carbon reporting, our top 60 strategic suppliers were approached for data. 40 suppliers responded to our request with supplier or contract specific data.

We have action plans and collect carbon metrics with our highest carbon emitting suppliers for goods and services. These plans and metrics open the dialogue with our suppliers to enable collaboration and market insight around carbon reduction and environmentally beneficial activity.

These conversations have already led to a number of innovative, sustainable solutions to our products and services, including product switches to more sustainable options see our Responsible Procurement Impact Reports.  

We have a number of ways in which we are reducing emissions across the supply chain:

• Upskilling: we have collated industry best practices and produced the Low Carbon Procurement Guidance. It aims to promote sustainable procurement when our departments purchase goods and services in a way that is beneficial to the built environment and their budget. It acts as an introduction to taking climate action, embedding equity, diversity and inclusion, and protecting human rights throughout the City Corporation as well as for communities and suppliers.
• Transitioning to electric vehicles (EVs): combustion vehicles are a key contributor to carbon emissions as well as reducing the air quality along their routes. Our suppliers often travel between sites, generating substantial carbon emissions. We encourage our suppliers to switch their vehicles to EVs. As EVs produce no emissions while on the road and minimal air pollution, overall carbon emissions from travel will be reduced and air quality improved.
• Catalogue spend: working with suppliers, we are increasing the visibility of “green” options by adding visual cues and creating specific catalogues to help staff make more informed choices. The definition of “green” varies so we include items which have a percentage of recycled content, are recyclable or are made from plant based/biodegradable material.

In 2023, the City Corporation was audited against ISO 20400: Sustainable Procurement. ISO 20400: Sustainable Procurement looks at how to integrate sustainability into procurement practices, as well as the impacts these decisions and processes could have.

Action Sustainability conducted our first audit, which involved a review of our procurement policies, management systems and interviews with stakeholders to determine how embedded sustainability is within our practices. Results of the audit showed we scored above average.  

One of the key findings from the audit highlighted that Officers wanted to improve their knowledge around Responsible Procurement. In response, we have already created and delivered the following in 2024:

• A heat map to identify which of our six Responsible Procurement Policy commitments is most relevant for each purchasing category.
• An explanatory toolkit to highlight the importance to City Corporation, of each of the six responsible procurement commitments.
• A short webinar series that brought each of the six commitments to life.
• Published an inaugural Responsible Procurement Impact Report. 

We will continue to be audited against ISO 20400 bi-annually and with the recommendations outlined in the audit reports, we will continue to improve our practices with each cycle of assessment.

When taking climate action, it’s important we consider how people may be affected by the transition and that it’s fair and inclusive to everyone. That is why we have incorporated Just Transition principles into our work. A Just Transition means moving to a low-carbon economy in a way that safeguards human rights, promotes sustainable development, reduces poverty, and supports the creation of decent work. 

In 2024, we partnered with Westminster City Council to develop a framework to assess the risks and opportunities of a Just Transition across our top suppliers. We defined what “green jobs” meant in our supply chain and explored practical ways we can support a fair shift to low-carbon economy.

In 2025 the work expanded, we reviewed the modern slavery statements of our Top 50 suppliers. We provided actionable insights to help strengthen their ethical sourcing practices, and provide one-to-one support to support driving forward.

Next, we’re developing a dedicated toolkit for small and medium-sized enterprises – helping them navigate the challenges they face and show how they can play their part in a fair, inclusive transition.