South Gloucestershire Council

We are committed to making our spending decisions in a way that delivers both value for money on a whole life cycle basis, and achieves wider economic, social and environmental benefits.

Environmental sustainability

Protecting the environment for future generations is one of our core values and our Environmental Policy includes a commitment to procure goods and services from sustainable sources.  As the council currently procures goods and services worth in the region of £170m a year, the opportunity to use our buying power to progress our sustainability and environmental commitments is considerable.

We are committed to:

• Identifying significant environmental risks and opportunities associated with procurement projects, and ensuring they are addressed (risks avoided or managed, and opportunities taken) in defining the scope of the procurement and preparing the specification
• Requesting information from potential suppliers on how they will help the council progress its environmental objectives as part of the delivery of a contract, and take their response into account in awarding the contract
• Ensuring procurement activity is compatible with and where possible contributes to the implementation of the council’s climate change strategy and carbon management plan
• Ensuring that timber and wood-derived products are procured from legal and sustainable sources
• Strengthening local supply chains and promote the use of local goods and services within the parameters of procurement legislation