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DEVELOPING SUSTAINABLE / LOW CARBON PUBLIC SECTOR SUPPLY CHAINS

(DRIVING BUSINESS COMPETITIVENESS AND REDUCING CARBON EMISSIONS)

Project Proposal DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL – 2009/10

Background and Scope of the project

Scope

To enable a greener Devon economy by;

• Drive Sustainable Procurement adoption, policy and knowledge transfer across Devon County Council (DCC) and the Devon Strategic Partnership (DSP) of public sector bodies.

• Enable businesses involved in the DCC / DSP supply chain to be more low carbon and resource efficient, thus reducing waste, energy and enabling them to be more productive and competitive.   

Under a Local Area Agreement Devon County Council has engaged with a number of other public sector bodies within the geographical boundary of Devon in order to drive business competitiveness and reducing carbon emissions through public sector supply chains.

It is expected that the revision and development of sustainable procurement policy and practices within the public sector of the Devon partner agencies will enable increased provision and supply of the environmental goods and services, benefiting local communities and contribute to the local economy.

This would help lead Devon businesses into the carbon ‘tight’ world by not only mitigating their impact upon climate change but beginning to adapt to future demands of climate change.

Background

It was identified through Devon’s Sustainable Community Strategy and further LAA process that:

Businesses in Devon are directly responsible for 32% of carbon emissions in the county, rising to 50% when transport is included (Devon Carbon Reduction Assessment 2007 – CEE, University of Exeter). If all indirect impacts were also taken into account, i.e. household product purchases, usage and waste this figure rises to over 60%. The Devon Carbon Reduction Analysis (2007 University of Exeter) highlights that the most cost effective cuts in carbon could be made from a 20% cut in business energy resulting in a 6% reduction in CO₂ across 9000 business. This study found that there is a potential for £540 million of savings to be made in Devon businesses through energy and waste reduction.

• There are 20,000 SMEs in Devon. The current Business Link and Business Support Simplification Programme (BSSP) will only provide in-depth support in resource efficiency to 200 businesses over the next five years. This leaves a large gap in provision of support.

• Public sector procurement supply chains can have a disproportionate effect upon businesses / SMEs and their waste/carbon impact, as Devon has few large buyers. NB 53% of DCC 1^st tier suppliers are from Devon. Devon’s supply chain reaches many hundreds of SMEs.

• UK Government Sustainable Procurement Task Force Action Plan 2006 (Securing the Future) stated public procurement has a key role to play in encouraging improved sustainability of areas and efficiency in companies. Through the innovative approach known as “forward commitment procurement” (BERR / DTI 2003-2007); policy can be set that help businesses to meet the needs of the public sector by driving efficiency, which will help SMEs to improve their competitiveness and develop sustainable products and services.  

Thus DCC corporate Procurement Services have developed a corporate strategy for procurement performance 2008 – 2011 called Value Devon. Throughout the strategy, targeted actions for the future are described that will contribute to priorities within DCC’s strategic plan, the Sustainable Community Strategy for Devon and the wider national targets for local government. As part of the corporate strategy, sustainable development and the local economy are both main areas under the mainstreaming public procurement theme.

Devon Strategic Partnership (DSP) recognise that sustainable procurement and the encouragement of low carbon supply chains would be an effective activity for LAA agreement and contribute to NI186 targets. DSP has already engaged and gained agreement to take this approach forward with: Devon County Council, Exeter City Council, Devon Primary Care Trust, Environment Agency Devon, Devon and Devon & Cornwall Constabulary. This will create a best value way of knowledge transfer of learning with regards to sustainable procurement across Devon.

The project will be in partnership with the UK environmental charity Global Action Plan (GAP). GAP has extensive experience of SME support, as through Envision SW they have worked with over 500 companies in Devon saving over £3million for SMEs through environmental business activities. Envision’s 9GAPs) data reporting and provision has been recognised as demonstrating best practice in the EU (SWERDA report 2008). They have worked with Exeter City Council’s procurement teams to develop the Green Accord procurement checklist and workshops for suppliers which have won a UK GO Sustainable Procurement Award 2008. GAP worked with Envirowise on this project, in particular on the level of detail within specifications. It is anticipated that a similar working relationship will develop again. Nationally GAP were winners for the 2008 Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy.

The Appendix outlines the local, regional and national policies and targets that are supported by this initiative, including the Devon Sustainable Community Strategy and the UK Sustainable Procurement Strategy.

Key objectives of the project

We will work with our own sustainability procurement policies, supply chain and with other Devon public sector bodies on;

• Local authorities supporting local businesses:
  • Procurement: Using procurement to support supply chains become more resource efficient, working towards a greener economy.
  • Business Advice Support: Support for local businesses through supply chain workshops / networks, including taking a proactive role in helping channel contact with resource efficiency partners through the Business Links gateway
• Improving resource efficiency within the public sector:

Procurement: Examining all levels of procurement (including policy) to design waste out, reduce hazardous waste, lead in Forward Commitment Procurement and buying recycled.

Sustainable procurement driving a low carbon supply chain – Working with DSP partners, their procurement teams and with the Devon businesses involved in their supply chain to reduce the carbon impact of the supply chain, (their services & businesses) and increase expenditure in the local economy (through increased local business expenditure from business to business). It will reduce business’s carbon, energy, water and waste to landfill at a greater speed than currently planned through the government’s planned initiatives and EU programmes, as there will be an established platform to share knowledge on policy and processes to help achieve this outcome.

This would allow Devon to show leadership in meeting its stated aim of Making Devon Greener and developing a low carbon Devon (LAA 2008-11).

Deliverables

Stage 1: Setting up

• Establish steering group of partnership organisations, detailed allocation of resources and timescales.

Stage 2: Initial assessment

• Work with public sector partners to assess:
  • procurement volume
  • existing data on the environmental impact of their supply chain
  • current (sustainable) procurement policies including policies for reducing environmental impact.
• Identify common supply chain SMEs and synergies shared by public sector partners in order to identify any early quick wins.

Stage 3: Policy development and promotion

• Work with procurement teams on gap analysis of existing policy in order to develop and promote policies that reduce waste at all levels.

Stage 4: Targeting businesses and benchmarking

• Identify target supply chain businesses, using a standardised procurement questionnaire to all suppliers to public sector partners. This will identify which suppliers will be most appropriate to target in order to achieve the maximum benefit from the project
• The light touch questionnaire will assess the environmental performance and associated carbon emissions of suppliers in line with EMS. The questionnaire will be developed in consultation with the DCC procurement team and suppliers. The questionnaire will use a traffic light system to identify suppliers with potential ‘low hanging fruit’ in terms of carbon savings as well as suppliers that do not currently monitor their energy use and associated carbon emissions, or the Carbon Trust online tool if there are cost implications later in the project.
• Benchmarking carbon footprint of targeted suppliers using Carbon Tracker, which is Global Action Plan’s online carbon and resource management assessment data tracker (tracks all GHG emissions as per DEFRA standard covering waste, energy, water, fuels, embodied energy, materials).

Stage 5: Dedicated Events, workshops, support

• Run initial joint events with supply chain businesses on carbon reduction which will also promote the use of data management ‘Carbon Tracker’.
• Run a series of workshops on topics to promote reduction activities on energy, waste, transport, EMS etc. and help targeted supply chain businesses to develop carbon management plans (signposting to further support as appropriate)
• Provide ongoing telephone support to targeted supply chain businesses
• Dissemination of BREW Centre business resource efficiency packs
• Updating of DCC’s website with information on the services provided by the Council and signposting to Business Links for further support

Stage 6: Final assessment, evaluation and dissemination

• Create case studies and guidance from experience
• Re-assessment of environmental impacts of targeted supply chain businesses using Carbon Tracker
• Assess progress on sustainable procurement polices and knowledge sharing
• Dissemination of lessons learned across all of Devon Strategic Partnership (see Expansion Plans)

The project activities will link with Business Link, Envirowise, Carbon trust through the BSSP portal and Business Links involvement in workshops and THE SME’s increased exposure to BSSP services portal. The project has been approved by SWERDA Waste Manager (Alastair Brown) and Business Link as these also will be using existing buyer / supplier relationships. We will disseminate good practise to the existing working relationships across the steering group and DSP.

Key outcomes of the project

Outcomes for Businesses

Through environmental auditing, advice and workshops, the local business community will benefit from:

• Improvements to resource efficiency through reductions in raw material use, waste to landfill, energy, water and transport fuel
• Increased effectiveness and competitiveness, including cost savings & understanding of types of goods and services required for future public sector demands.
• Provide useful access to information about securing public sector contracts and education public procurement regulations

Businesses will continue to benefit from improved efficiency beyond the life of the project. They will also be provided with GAP’s Tracker which they will continue to have access to beyond the project to help them to manage their carbon, energy, waste and other resource use impacts in the long term.

Outcomes for Public Sector

Through procurement policy advice and work with suppliers, public sector organisations will benefit from:

• Development or refinement of sustainable procurement policies
• Sharing knowledge and experience of decarbonising supply chains with other public sector partners

Progress on the implementation of relevant strategies, including the Devon Sustainable Community Strategy and the UK Sustainable Procurement Action Plan

Outputs

Targets for involvement in the project; identified and forecast savings to be achieved:

• 4 or more public sector organisations developing and adopting sustainable procurement policies
• 70 - 100 Devon businesses, including 40 of these using carbon management tracking tool
• 1000 tonnes of CO₂ reduction through direct emissions
• 500,000 kWh energy saved through efficiency or sourced from micro-renewable generation
• 10,000 litres of vehicle fuel
• 40,000 m3 water saved through decreased usage
• 100 tonnes of waste diverted from landfill via recycling and decreased use of materials (CO₂ saving)
• 100 raw materials saved (generating an embodied CO₂ saving)
• £100,000 in cost savings and added value to the economy

Baseline environmental impacts will be collected through a business questionnaire and an assessment tracking (carbon) toolkit sent to businesses which will capture data on GVA, cost, jobs, energy (kWh), waste (tonnes), water (m³), fuel (litres) and CO₂. Audits will be taken before and after intervention with the business on the supply chain. These will be entered onto a tracking database and signed off by the businesses. In addition, any data existing from procurement teams from businesses will be collected. Quarterly reporting will show baseline data, businesses engaged, workshops and progress made.

Expansion plans if the project is successful

This project is intended as a pilot and we intend to use the results to extend the benefits of the project. The methodology of the benchmarking and procurement policy improvements across the partners will be embedded in more detail across the whole supply chain. It will then be rolled out across all Devon public procurement bodies across the Devon Strategic Partnership through knowledge sharing and policy sharing around best practice generated during the project. This will benefit Devon supply chain and its businesses, with peer review and networking for dissemination.

Appendix: Contributions to strategies and targets

Locally:

This business resource efficiency project will deliver on three areas of the Devon Strategic Partnership's (DSP) priorities – adapting to and mitigating climate change; being less wasteful and managing waste more effectively; providing the right climate for enterprise and innovation, strengthening Devon’s economy through productivity and reducing economic inequalities.

Devon also has National Indicators that this project will contribute to:

• NI 186: Per capita CO2 emissions in the LA area
• NI 172: VAT registered business in the area showing growth
• NI 193: Municipal waste land filled Defra DSO

Nationally:

The project will contribute to the aims of many national strategies, including the UK Sustainable Procurement Strategy and Action Plan, the UK Climate Change Programme, the Climate Change Act and the Waste Strategy for England.

Relevant national target indicators include:

PSA 27: Lead the global effort to avoid dangerous climate change

PSA 28: Secure a healthy natural environment for today and the future (NI 197)

BERR DSO: Promote the creation and growth of business & a strong enterprise economy across all regions

Defra DSO: Economy & society resilient to environment risk and adapted to the impacts of climate change (NI189 & 190)

Defra DSO: Sustainable patterns of consumption and production (NI 191, 192, 193)

Defra DSO: A healthy, resilient, productive and diverse natural environment (NI 195, 196)

LAA 6 – Driving business competitiveness and reducing carbon emissions through public sector supply chains.

Achieves Devon LAA Outcomes

• ·Increase productivity from the environment as an economic driver, business resource efficiency and waste, economic assets, local supply chain development
• ·Develop the Devon brand
• ·Reducing Carbon Dioxide emissions

This business resource efficiency project will deliver on three areas of the Devon Strategic Partnership's (DSP) priorities – adapting to and mitigating climate change; being less wasteful and managing waste more effectively; providing the right climate for enterprise and innovation, strengthening Devon’s economy through productivity and reducing economic inequalities. All services outlined would be in addition to the national BERR/DEFRA services and the proposed South West EU competitiveness and convergence funding of standard business resource efficiency service for businesses.

This fits into Devon Economic strategy strategic actions; Priority F, ii) Devon Brand, iii) environment as an economic driver, Priority E, ii) sector development, iv) Supply chains

DSP SCS for Devon states:

Economy Theme – Key issue - Business productivity, including environment as an economic driver - is key to Devon prosperity. It highlights being a champion of the environment, encouraging business practises that protect the environment, and promote businesses lesser impact upon the environment. It promotes making Devon Greener by providing green business support, sustainable procurement, local product development and support growth of greener businesses.

Sustainable Energy Theme – Key issue - Devon needs to reduce emissions and realise economic benefits of moving to a low carbon economy.

Environment Theme - Key issues – Devon’s waste problem, impacts of climate change,   

References are in DSP Sustainable Community Strategy for Devon evidence base, plus theme & issues evidence bases of environment, economy and energy at;

http://www.devonsp.org.uk/sustainablecommunitystrategy/evidencebase.html

http://www.devonsp.org.uk/sustainablecommunitystrategy/evidencebase/summaryofissues-energy.pdf

http://www.devonsp.org.uk/sustainablecommunitystrategy/evidencebase/summaryofissues-economy.pdf

http://www.devonsp.org.uk/sustainablecommunitystrategy/evidencebase/issues-environment.pdf

Other EU, UK & SW evidence

Government carbon reduction targets

Climate change targets may be increased from a planned 60% cut in emissions by 2050 to a more ambitious target of 80%. The government is to ask the climate change committee for its advice on a revised target. Between 2005 and 2008, Envision helped companies save 21,947 tonnes of CO2.

Lisbon Agenda

The Lisbon Strategy has the aim of making Europe ‘the worlds most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy’, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion by 2010.

By helping Small and Medium Enterprises to become more productive and competitive while reducing their environmental impact, the services fits perfectly with the objective of the Lisbon and Gothenburg agenda. The project is compliant with Lisbon category code No.6 - Assistance to SMEs for the promotion of environmentally-friendly products and production processes (introduction of effective environment managing system, adoption and use of pollution prevention technologies, integration of clean technologies into firm production).

South West of England– Regional Economic Strategy

The South West of England ‘s vision, as stated in the Regional Economic Strategy is: “South West England will have an economy where the aspirations and skills of our people combine with the quality of our physical and cultural environment to provide a high quality of life and sustainable prosperity for everyone.”

By providing bespoke support to Small and Medium Enterprises to help them become more productive and competitive while reducing their environmental impact, The service helps the SW Region achieve its first strategic objective, which is to create the conditions that enable the region’s businesses to be more successful by increasing their productivity. It contributes more specifically to priority 1A: ‘Support Business Productivity’, and the Delivery Activity 1A.5 ‘Support resource efficiency in businesses.

It addresses the key drivers of the Regional Economic Strategy:

1. Innovation - it encourages SMEs to increase competitiveness and sustainability through successful environmental management and helps businesses identify new business opportunities and promotes business innovation and improvements.
2. Skills - it equips people with skills and adaptability through the training and education of staff, employees and other stakeholders
3. Environment - it contributes to the enhancement of the region’s environment, and promoting this as an asset to be used to attract and develop business and job opportunities.

Sustainability in the South West

The service will also meet many of the aims set out in ‘A Sustainable Future for the South West’ launched by the South West Regional Assembly and Sustainability South West, including:

The need to promote wise use of waste resources whilst reducing waste production and disposal.

The need to train people in sustainability skills.

The need to provide learning to encourage businesses to establish sustainable policies and practices.

Regional Waste and Environment Strategies

The Regional Assembly has recently produced a Regional Waste Strategy and a Regional Environment Strategy. The service will help to meet aims and objectives as detailed

1. -Promote sustainable use of natural resources
2. -Reduce Pollution to air, water and land
3. -Minimise waste