The Spanish Association of Purchasing, Contracting and Procurement Professionals (AERCE) has certified Gransolar Group’s procurement department in accordance with the requirements of the ISO 20400 Sustainable Purchasing standard. The company is one of the first in the renewable energy sector to achieve this accreditation, which helps organisations meet their sustainability responsibilities by implementing a common set of quality requirements throughout the value chain.
Difficulties in procuring quality raw materials at sustained costs is one of the main challenges facing renewable energy companies. The key to business success is to establish relationships with the right partners in each location, and to build a team of qualified and experienced professionals. Gransolar is a global company with a presence on five continents, and the Procurement department has developed a supplier selection system committed to maintaining its strict quality requirements throughout the value chain in order to contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Social commitment in the supply chain
According to Juan Antonio Monterroso, Gransolar’s Procurement Director, this certification recognises a process whereby “we are committed to taking environmental criteria into account when approving new suppliers and evaluating those we already have”. In this evaluation system, Monterroso explains, suppliers are given an annual score based on their commitment to sustainability initiatives.
Monterroso assures that in recent years the department has detected that environmental commitment is one of the general concerns of customers. “All organisations have environmental, social and economic impacts, and our customers ask if we apply environmental and CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) policies with our suppliers,” says Monterroso, adding that “the Procurement Department’s selection process allows our suppliers to help us reduce our carbon footprint and, by extension, that of our customers”.
