By Tanya Harris
The sold out national launch of, the Sustainable Procurement ISO 20400:2017 – the first standard of its kind in the world, held in Sydney at NSW Parliament House and sponsored by the NSW Government Office of Environment and Heritage, was a highly successful, interesting and diverse event.
There was strong cross-sectoral representation with attendees from state and local government, finance, utilities and infrastructure, natural resources and mining, insurance, property and consulting sectors, academia and not-for-profit.
Jean-Louis Haie, Chair of the Australian ISO technical committee is an engaging presenter and his overview of the lengthy ISO development process, the inter-governmental agencies who participated and the key aspects of the Sustainable Procurement guidance ISO 20400 made a potentially dry subject an insightful peek into the complex and challenging multi-lateral undertaking.Hearing the early adoption and progress stories from the panel members, was the highlight of the evening!
- Nicole Boyd from Infrastructure Sustainability Council of Australia (ISCA) shared the impressive news that ISCA will be embedding the sustainable procurement ISO to assess and rate organizations in the management and governance category;
- Matthew Brenan, from Transurban expressed challenges and obstacles which was insightful;
- Georgina Gillett from Lake Macquarie City Council had interesting data on the quantifiable impacts of sustainable procurement from local council implementation;
- Kirsten Armstrong from The Fred Hollows Foundation talked through the value of triple bottom line considerations in disruptive technology that tangibly changes lives for the better; and
- Kate Harris from GECA revealed a new national initiative on Sustainable Leadership.
The post-presentation networking provided an excellent and spirited sharing of new concepts and considerations for all industry and sector leaders that attended.
The Sustainable Procurement ISO 20400 Sydney launch demonstrated the relevance and excitement that the first global standard really is heralding a new and transformative approach not just to procurement and sustainability individuals, the fundamental shifts in the approach to business globally.