Moving up: How to advance your sustainable contracting approach
From Inactive to Reactive
What you need:
- Clear understanding of applicable regulations
- Initial policies and codes of conduct
- Basic training for procurement, sales, legal and contract teams
- Assignment of responsibility for sustainability in contracts
First steps:
- Map which regulations apply to your business
- Develop or update your Supplier Code of Conduct
- Add basic sustainability clauses to contract templates
- Brief your procurement, sales, legal and contract teams
From Reactive to Proactive
What you need:
- Impact assessments linked to your business relationships
- Cross-functional engagement (legal, procurement, sales, sustainability, operations)
- Understanding of sustainability as a source of competitive advantage
- Long-term supplier relationship strategies
First steps:
- Conduct risk assessments for key supplier relationships
- Tailor contract clauses based on identified risks
- Develop supplier questionnaires and verification processes
- Establish regular supplier dialogue on sustainability
From Proactive to Transformative
What you need:
- Strategic supplier base planning
- Long-term objectives for supply relationships
- Collaboration at network and ecosystem levels
- Commitment to plain language and accessible contract design
First steps:
- Co-develop sustainability targets with key suppliers
- Invest in supplier capacity building
- Redesign contract documents for clarity and usability
- Share data and insights across your supply chain
Remember: Small steps matter.
Many companies are still inactive or reactive. In the next module we’ll uncover why. If your organisation wants to move to the proactive or transformative level, take a look at some of the clause libraries and model clauses presented next and our suggestions in Module 4.