» SSE Drives Sustainable Procurement to Enhance Long-Term Supply Chain Value
Discover how Action Sustainability partnered with SSE, a leader in sustainable procurement, to re-evaluate its approach and strengthen the resilience of its supply chain. By benchmarking SSE’s practices against the ISO 20400 standard, the collaboration reinforced the company’s commitment to creating long-term value through a renewed focus on sustainability initiatives.
Since 2020, SSE plc has advanced its sustainable procurement by embedding a triple bottom line approach and aligning disclosures with evolving sustainability frameworks, all while generating positive impacts through social value.
While SSE’s approach has strengthened systemic shocks and global supply chain disruptions have continued to test procurement resilience across the energy sector.
Recognising these challenges, SSE has committed to the next stage of its journey integrating sustainability and risk into core strategies and hardwiring resilience into its supply networks to ensure long-term stability and impact.
Comprehensive assessment: Action Sustainability evaluated SSE’s sustainable procurement ecosystem, engaging with stakeholders across business units to understand current practices and priorities.
Document and process review: The assessment included sustainable procurement policies, supplier engagement processes and risk management approaches.
Benchmarking and insights: SSE’s practices were compared against other leading utilities to identify best practices and emerging trends in sustainable procurement and resilience planning.
Tailored recommendations: Using a structured, evidence-based methodology, insights were translated into actionable recommendations with a detailed report and roadmap outlining immediate priorities and long-term strategic initiatives.
Alignment and compliance: Recommendations were aligned with SSE’s values, and international frameworks, ensuring a forward-looking, and comprehensive sustainable procurement strategy.
“Partnering with Action Sustainability has strengthened SSE’s approach to sustainable procurement. Their guidance and roadmap have helped us thoughtfully integrate sustainable procurement and resilience principles, supporting positive and lasting impacts for our stakeholders and communities.”
The project delivered a robust action plan that reinforced SSE’s direction towards procurement strategies rooted in sustainability and resilience, and support SSE’s long-term vision. By aligning with ISO 20400 and other relevant frameworks, the recommendations position SSE not only to meet compliance obligations but to exceed them, creating a competitive advantage while maximising social and environmental benefits.
Key lessons from the project highlight the importance of:
Sustainable Procurement with Risk & Resilience Integration: Embedding risk management into sustainable procurement requires a holistic, cross-organisational approach that considers operations, supplier relationships and different business unit’s needs.
Continuous Improvement: Procurement must remain agile and adaptive. Regular evaluation of the sustainable procurement journey allows organisations to respond to evolving risks, opportunities and global supply dynamics, ensuring that strategies remain effective and forward-looking.
Action Sustainability are recognised leaders in sustainability delivery and sustainable procurement.
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