Achilles has launched a new Green Energy Network as new research reveals more than 52% of businesses have no sustainable procurement strategy – despite 71% placing more focus on sustainability from 2022.
The latest data from the Achilles’ Global Sustainability Priorities Survey (2,185 businesses) revealed that procurement challenges are a widely shared issue, with 40% reporting difficulties finding suppliers with high enough green standards as their biggest challenge.
Achilles’ Green Energy Network provides global prequalification services and ESG scoring to support developers, contractors and manufacturers as they build new supply chains to support the burgeoning renewables sector and respond to new needs, such as meeting local content targets.
The launch of the new Network responds to critical market needs, with the survey findings illustrating the volume of work that remains to be done, particularly in relation to cutting carbon and the drive to reach Net Zero: 52% of businesses still have no carbon reduction strategy – despite awarding carbon reduction 7.4 out of 10 as a business goal.
Despite growing efforts to mobilise business in getting behind Net Zero goals, it remains a minority priority for most companies – just 15% have committed to aim for Net Zero emissions, 21% plan to adopt a carbon reduction strategy in the future and 9% have no plans for a strategy at all.
Carbon measurement also remains a lottery, with over half (51%) still making no attempt to calculate their carbon footprint. Among those businesses that do monitor carbon, 54% use basic tools, recording emissions in-house on spreadsheets, while 19% use third party software. Just one in four have their carbon estimates independently audited.
Katie Tamblin, Chief Product Officer at Achilles, said: “By launching our new Green Energy Network, we can enable businesses to solve the challenges they are facing in sustainable procurement. Building new supply chains to support new methods of energy production in a time when supplies are scarce and supply chains are experiencing significant disruptions is a monumental task. Thousands of companies are struggling to source suppliers and partners that share the same values, but our new Green Energy Network will help bridge that gap and ensure that, as the race to net zero intensifies and more investment is ploughed into the renewable energy industry, businesses can find suppliers with the right decarbonisation and ethical standards.
“Our research showed that most of the companies we engaged with plan to allocate between 10 and 20% of their procurement budgets on sustainability projects, so it’s important that they have the tools they need to ensure that their supply chain shares the same vision and ethos.
“The strength of Achilles’ new Green Energy Network comes from our 30 year experience working with the energy sector and rolling out new standards for ESG performance within the broader framework of sustainability. Achilles is uniquely placed to support our existing customers to evolve through the energy transition, and to assure new suppliers as they begin on the sustainable supply journey.”
Achilles Green Energy Network supports the wider global transition to a clean and green energy supply chain including solutions for wind and solar energy generation, hydropower, alternative fuels, carbon capture and storage (CCS), electrified transport and renewable energy storage. It has been developed with the expertise of BVG Associates (BVGA) to support offshore and onshore wind developers and contractors as they deliver global and project-specific supply chain strategies and management processes via the Network. BVGA has been critical in ensuring that the content in the Network reflects the unique requirements of prequalification in the Wind Industry.
