ISO 20400

ISO 20400:2017 Sustainable procurement — Guidance is a standard by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) that provides guidance to organizations, independent of their activity or size, on integrating sustainability within procurement.^[1] It is intended for stakeholders involved in, or impacted by, procurement decisions and processes, complementing ISO 26000, Guidance on social responsibility, by "focusing specifically on the purchasing function".^[2]

History

The standard was developed by ISO project committee ISO/PC 277 under the leadership of Jacques Schramm, a French management consultant.^[3] Work started in 2013 and the first edition of ISO 20400 was published on 21 April 2017.^[4]

Main features of the standard

The ISO 20400:2017 standard is structured as follows:

Scope
Normative references
Terms and definitions
Understanding the fundamentals
Integrating sustainability into the organization's procurement policy and strategy
Organizing the procurement function toward sustainability
Integrating sustainability into the procurement process

Researcher Anne Staal notes that within supply chain management, the guidance "necessitates a change in ... buyer-seller relationships",^[5] reinforcing the finding of Rentizelas et al. that coercive pressure can “quickly force an industrial sector” to attain a level of sustainable procurement ... but it is not sufficient to develop sustainable practices in suppliers if these organisations themselves do not show initiative".^[6]