In the News
Green group takes aim at procurement in Toronto
By: Andrew McKay (Information Week)Greening Greater Toronto has launched a working group that aims to lead green thinking in Canada’s largest city.
The group, called the Green Procurement Leadership Council, was born out of the Toronto City Summit Alliance. It includes over 25 senior executives from some of Canada’s largest companies, representing approximately $40 billion in annual buying power. Among the group’s members are executives from TELUS and Celestica.
“Our goal is to harness purchasing power to help the environment, build Ontario’s green tech sector and create permanent jobs, and the formation of the Green Procurement Leadership Council is a vital first step,” said David Pecaut, Greening Greater Toronto co-chair, chair of the Toronto City Summit Alliance, and senior partner and managing director, The Boston Consulting Group.
“In addition to helping the environment and the green economy, Greening Greater Toronto has demonstrated that green procurement can also deliver significant return on investment, and the Leadership Council will share these best practices with others.”
The workgroup claims that green procurement is hampered by “a lack of accessible information for commercial and public sector buyers about best practices and about how and where to find and assess green products and services in Ontario.” As a result, Greening Greater Toronto said commercial and public sector organizations create over 70 per cent of the total waste going to landfill, and almost half of the region’s carbon emissions.
The workgroup’s first public initiative will be the inaugural Green Procurement Marketplace on May 11-12, as part of the Ontario Centre of Excellence Discovery '09 conference. The event will showcase green technologies and services that deliver environmental benefits and positive business returns.
For more information on Discovery ‘09 and how the Marketplace agenda is shaping up, please visit http://www.ocediscovery.com
Greening Greater Toronto’s other green procurement plans include:
• Creating a green supplier database – identifying high potential green technologies available in Ontario to support and promote;
• Holding strategy forums – convene industry and business leaders to develop strategies to advance the profile and adoption of high potential technologies;
• Promoting green procurement principles – create a toolbox consolidating demonstrated best practices which other organizations can adopt; and
• Developing a procurement portal – deepen buyer awareness of green technologies available through an online listing of green suppliers that will ultimately include economic and performance data for specific products and programs.
For original article: Click here
The group, called the Green Procurement Leadership Council, was born out of the Toronto City Summit Alliance. It includes over 25 senior executives from some of Canada’s largest companies, representing approximately $40 billion in annual buying power. Among the group’s members are executives from TELUS and Celestica.
“Our goal is to harness purchasing power to help the environment, build Ontario’s green tech sector and create permanent jobs, and the formation of the Green Procurement Leadership Council is a vital first step,” said David Pecaut, Greening Greater Toronto co-chair, chair of the Toronto City Summit Alliance, and senior partner and managing director, The Boston Consulting Group.
“In addition to helping the environment and the green economy, Greening Greater Toronto has demonstrated that green procurement can also deliver significant return on investment, and the Leadership Council will share these best practices with others.”
The workgroup claims that green procurement is hampered by “a lack of accessible information for commercial and public sector buyers about best practices and about how and where to find and assess green products and services in Ontario.” As a result, Greening Greater Toronto said commercial and public sector organizations create over 70 per cent of the total waste going to landfill, and almost half of the region’s carbon emissions.
The workgroup’s first public initiative will be the inaugural Green Procurement Marketplace on May 11-12, as part of the Ontario Centre of Excellence Discovery '09 conference. The event will showcase green technologies and services that deliver environmental benefits and positive business returns.
For more information on Discovery ‘09 and how the Marketplace agenda is shaping up, please visit http://www.ocediscovery.com
Greening Greater Toronto’s other green procurement plans include:
• Creating a green supplier database – identifying high potential green technologies available in Ontario to support and promote;
• Holding strategy forums – convene industry and business leaders to develop strategies to advance the profile and adoption of high potential technologies;
• Promoting green procurement principles – create a toolbox consolidating demonstrated best practices which other organizations can adopt; and
• Developing a procurement portal – deepen buyer awareness of green technologies available through an online listing of green suppliers that will ultimately include economic and performance data for specific products and programs.
For original article: Click here