Suppliers : developing responsible procurement
Integrating sustainable development tools into purchasing procedures contributes to limiting risks with regard to suppliers, safety and working conditions of subcontractors, protection of the environment and ethics, all of which vary from one country to another.
Integrating sustainable development in the purchasing process
Tools have been developed to include sustainable development in all steps of the purchasing process. They are formally defined in the Group's Purchasing Charter.
Since 2004, 233 buyers with 22 different nationalities have been trained on purchasing (about 80% of purchasers have been trained).
Two complementary support items were developed in 2007 to guarantee good project governance: a behavior code for working groups on procurement to evaluate suppliers and assess the quality of products and services purchased; and a Supplier Charter that defines the conditions of a responsible clientsupplier relationship and summarises the Group's commitments towards sustainable development.
Furthermore, Veolia Environnement is carrying out an active supplier evaluation policy, particularly on safety and environmental aspects. 575 outline agreements with regional suppliers, namely half of all on-line supplier agreements, were evaluated in 2007.
Apart from tools developed at Group level, each division deploys its own approaches to manage the selection of products and the relationship with supplier or subcontractor. For example, Veolia Environmental Services insists that its suppliers sign an agreement against illegal labor.
Sustainable development audits
Social progress: approach towards suppliers and subcontractors in Africa
Since 2006, Veolia Water AMI (Africa - Middle East - India) has carried out a policy aimed at integrating social responsibility criteria in the selection of, and relationships with its suppliers and subcontractors.
Since 2004,Veolia Environnement has carried out sustainable development audits of its suppliers, giving them means of measuring their performance and comparing it with the Group's expectations in this field.
In 2007, the Group's purchasing management carried out an audit of a highlighted supplier of batteries shared by all divisions.
This resulted in a progress plan being set up related to improvements to safety, the formal definition of a human resources policy and integration of sustainable development in steering its own suppliers.
Sustainable development has also been integrated into the contracts
of Veolia Water France suppliers, in the same way as the quality and technical aspects of products, safety of people and equipment, and commercial positioning of proposals. This approach was initiated in 2006 and continued in 2007.
About forty sustainable development audits of strategic suppliers have been made by Veolia Water in France (around eight European countries), and consulted suppliers answered 381 questions on economic, social and environmental subjects.
Improvement areas and action plans were suggested for the year 2010. This approach has been deployed in France, and is currently being deployed internationally.
A sustainable development section is also included in audits on the Veolia Environmental Services site, already deployed at 40 suppliers.
Good purchasing practices are disseminated through a specific Internet site on procurement accessible throughout the world : 1,337 agreements were referenced at the end of 2007 and they are being referred to more and more frequently (3,545 users). Consolidation of procurement teams in different countries (the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany) and broad outline agreements also contribute to consolidating the procurement network internationally.
