Doing things differently - EcoProcura 2018 dares its participants to implement behaviour change in their own organisations. Recognizing Sustainable Procurement (SPP) as a strategic tool to achieve sustainability goals is just the first step. Often it is the people in the organisation that need to be on board to implement change.

Procurers can be change agents within their own organisations and empower their peers to take bold steps, says Dr. Jolien Grandia from the Erasmus University of Rotterdam. A strong mission statement combined with ambitious and clear targets is crucial when implementing sustainable and innovative procurement, agree the speakers of the second day of the conference.

Change can also be achieved by finding simple solutions to complex problems - this is Reyes Tirado’s message from Greenpeace. Procurers have direct influence on the food supply in public organisations and reducing animal based products benefits both the environment and public health.

A more radical approach to behavioural change was proposed by Tilman Reinhardt suggesting that governments today already have a legal obligation to implement sustainable procurement. This is an option for strategic litigation in case public procurement does in fact not include certain sustainability criteria - holding public authorities accountable and creating jurisprudence.

For more information about the programme, latest updates, and the speakers at this year EcoProcura conference, click here.