It is well known that the London Organizing Committee has made Sustainability a core policy of the 2012 Olympic Games, since an ambitious 2012 Sustainability Plan was published in November 2007. What is new, is the profound impact this initiative will have on the Sustainable Procurement initiative of 1000’s of companies.
The Organizing Committee has just issued today a very ambitious “Olympics Sourcing Code” ‘(access here) which will apply to all products and service providers.
Two things are really innovative about this code:
- First the code includes a very detailed list of restricted substances, going beyond regulations (and including for example the (in)famous phtalates and bisphenol)
- The second and most important thing for us, is that the Code is not only focused on suppliers environmental/socials practices but also on their responsible sourcing practices. All suppliers have to ensure:
“that products and services are sourced and produced under a set of internationally acceptable environmental, social and ethical guidelines and standards”
This initiative should therefore have a massive impact, on the 5000 direct suppliers, but also cascading to more than 25000 tier-2 suppliers.
