Senior Policy Advisor, SCP, Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment, Netherlands
Cuno van Geet advises the Netherland’s Ministry of Infrastructure and the Water Management on sustainable procurement and how to use the power of this demand for strategic objectives in policy and ambitions of organizations. His expertise is on how to translate these objectives into impact in practice by setting up collaboration and creating commitment to make this more than a one-time action.
For over 15 years, his focus within sustainability used to be on energy and climate; but since 10 years working in procurement his focus shifted towards resources, and especially over the past few years, on the debate of the Circular Economy. The circularity part appeared to be fascinating in procurement because it relates to the core business of both suppliers and procurers. It provides new opportunities in collaboration within the chain and creating new value from the reuse of resources, while delivering on objectives both in sustainability and in economics. They have initiated many pilots to test these new models and collect the valuable lessons they can share with others and help them to make the first or next step.
Incorporating circular economy principles is the next frontier for IT purchasers wanting to make a sustainability impact through procurement. More than takeback and recycling, the circular economy presents procurement with an important opportunity to include sustainability impact up front, by influencing products design, and material content as well as materials reuse. But how do we … read more >>