Driving Commitment: Bayer, CBRE, Colgate-Palmolive, Klöckner Pentaplast and Thermo Fisher Scientific join the SPP League of Champions

Following the introduction of SPP’s first wave of Champions earlier this year, the non-profit and grassroots Sustainable Procurement initiative is delighted to announce the second wave of Champions with leading global companies. 

Düsseldorf (Germany), November 17, 2022: The Sustainable Procurement Pledge (SPP) welcomes additional five leading global companies to its League of Champions. Bayer, CBRE, Colgate-Palmolive, Klöckner Pentaplast and Thermo Fisher Scientific joined the special SPP program for organizations created to engage whole procurement teams in the SPP movement and accelerate the ambitious plans to drive Sustainable Procurement across all supply chains.

“Adopting ESG principles in procurement has become a strategic imperative in the real estate industry,” said Bob Bruning, Chief Procurement Officer at CBRE. “In order to deliver on CBRE’s sustainability goals and those of our clients, it is important for all parties – investors, occupiers and supply chain partners – to work together. SPP focuses on cross-industry and cross-company collaboration. Joining the SPP League of Champions will foster the spirit of teamwork needed to achieve our collective sustainability goals.”

“Integrating sustainability in procurement is a massive transformation process that SPP drives from the bottom-up ,” explained Thomas Udesen, co-founder of the SPP and Bayer CPO.  He said: “Making this change happen requires commitment and engagement at all levels. With the SPP Champion’s CPOs and Responsible Sourcing leaders, we started to develop strategies and tools in respective panels and working groups, which we will provide to the SPP community as a blueprint for Sustainable Procurement in 2023.” 

Colgate-Palmolive said a clear strategic fit underpinned their engagement in the SPP League of Champions. “The world’s challenges are daunting, and no company can go alone. It’s partnerships that amplify our collective wisdom and impact,” said Lauren Richardson, Colgate-Palmolive’s CPO. “Sustainable Procurement is key to our progress. Essential for making it an integral part of our sourcing decisions is building momentum for change and partnership that make the transformation far more powerful.”

SPP Champions support the SPP with an annual financial commitment and receive access to a range of resources and community engagement opportunities developed for global procurement professionals across multiple industries. SPP Champions also benefit from bespoke support from the SPP Steering Team.

Bertrand Conquéret, co-founder of SPP, and Henkel CPO gave an update on the SPP Champion engagements. “We recently conducted the first League of Champions CPO Panel, and it became very obvious that those who have joined SPP have not only recognized for themselves and their respective organizations the importance of sustainability and collaboration but are also committing to it. Important aspects like climate change and tackling scope 3 emissions, equity and human rights, supply chain transparency, and traceability require collective engagement. And the SPP community is here to develop and provide solutions for the entire procurement profession.”

This is a rational Tony Harrison, Chief Procurement Officer of Kloeckner Pentaplast agrees. “We have ten ambitious ESG goals of which Procurement has a leading role for half of them. We have made great progress in the last twelve months, however, we have a lot more to do. By joining the SPP we want to show our commitment and contribute at the League of Champions CPO Panel and work to accelerate Procurements impact with its suppliers.”

“A systemic shift is what we need,” stated Chris Shanahan,  Vice President, Supply Chain Operations Global Sustainability  at Thermo Fisher Scientific. “And this systemic shift needs transformational investments and all the support  we can give, based on commitment and robust partnerships. To the extent that our procurement team at Thermo Fisher can play a part in making this transformaron a reality, I can promise we will.”

If you want to learn more about the SPP Champion program, please contact champions@spp.earth. 

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About the Sustainable Procurement Pledge The Sustainable Procurement Pledge (SPP) is an international grassroots and non-profit organization for procurement professionals, academics, and practitioners, driving awareness and knowledge on responsible sourcing practices and empowering people in procurement. With more than 9,100 committed ambassadors, SPP fosters the positive impact of procurement. The pledge is based on the United Nations Global Compact and the Sustainable Development Goals and centers around five key principles of which the pledge comprises. These SPP principles set the frame and the tone for our way of collaboration, and how we collectively drive and thrive towards our vision that all individuals acting within global supply chains across the world will apply Sustainable Procurement practices by 2030. Learn more at spp.earth, LinkedIn or Twitter.