Greening Our Government

The first-ever GreenGov Supply Chain Summit, hosting 150 different companies from all over the county was held in Chicago on November 16, 2010. The summit was held to announce a voluntary collaboration between the Federal Government and vendors and suppliers to create a greener and cleaner supply chain. Michelle Sheldon, President of Eco Promotional Products, Inc. was invited and gladly attended the the sumit. Certainly, the opportunity to contribute towards a greener and cleaner supply chain has been a long standing goal of Sheldon’s company. And there is a clear opportunity to participate in sales to the Federal Government, a purchaser of some 500 billion in goods and services annually.


White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley participates in the GreenGov Supply Chain Summit


Section 13 of Executive Order 13514 Made by President Obama on October 8, 2007 requires the General Services Administration, the Department of Defense, Environmental Protection Agency, and others to provide the Council on Environmental Quality and the Office of Federal Procurement Policy with recommendations on the possibilities of tracking and ultimately lessening greenhouse gas emissions from the Federal supply chain and improving sustainability of suppliers. Essentially the government is trying to control and ultimately lessen the greenhouse gases emitted from its supplier community. This is the government’s attempt at managing supplier and supply chain sustainability.

Some recommendations taken right out of the order are:1. Requiring vendors and contractors to register with a voluntary registry or organization for reporting greenhouse gas emissions
2. Requiring contractors, as part of a new revised registration under the Central Contractor Registration or other tracking system, to develop and make available its greenhouse gas inventory and description of efforts to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions
3. Using Federal Government purchasing preferences or other incentives for products manufactured using processes that minimize greenhouse gas emissions
4. Other options for encouraging sustainable practices and reducing greenhouse gas emissions

The government along with the GSA and other agencies are trying to stop greenhouse gases by tracking how much their suppliers are emitting. If businesses all did this and became aware of how much they were endangering the environment, improved eco friendly practices such as paperless companies would grow and become the norm.


http://image.exct.net/lib/fefd167774640c/m/1/Executive+Order+7.13.2010.pdf

http://www.wileyrein.com/resources/documents/GSA%20Recommendations.pdf

http://www.wileyrein.com/publications.cfm?sp=articles&id=6242
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/11/18/greening-supply-chain