For many of us, awareness of environmental and sustainability issues in a business context has come relatively recently. But for Oliver Hurrey, it has been at the centre of pretty much his entire 20-year working life.
He got into the field first of all by organising events for the sustainability industry, then worked for 2degrees in various roles for some 10 years. 2degrees helps businesses work together through digital platforms and events, all aimed at driving sustainable business. He worked with huge firms such as Asda, Unilever and GSK, helping them “communicate sustainability goals to their supply chains”, he says.
That enabled him to understand just how powerful working with suppliers can be in terms of the agenda, and he sees collaboration as the way forward for business. Last year, he struck out on his own, founding Galvanised to advise firms on sustainability issues and also provide input to technology firms who are developing products aimed at the sustainability sector.
He also works with two industry collaborative groups in the sector. AIM-PROGRESS is a forum of over 40 consumer goods manufacturers and suppliers “assembled to enable and promote responsible sourcing practices and sustainable production systems”. He also founded and chairs the Scope 3 Peer Group, another collaborative group with a focus on reducing carbon emissions in the supply chain – “Scope 3” being the way that emissions in a firm’s supply chain are defined in emissions reporting schemes.
And in case that isn’t enough to keep him busy, he’s now getting involved as a steering group member for the Sustainable Procurement Pledge movement, started by Thomas Udensen and Bertrand Conqueret (see here for our interview with Udesen earlier this year).
“In many of the initiatives I’ve seen over the years, it has been the sustainability profession driving progress, with too little involvement from procurement. The Pledge is a great way of engaging procurement people”, he says. That’s important because traditionally, it wasn’t easy for sustainability folk to monitor progress towards targets if suppliers were key players. Procurement can help with that, although, “procurement can ask for information, but often suppliers have no idea how to collect it, or even what they are being asked for!”
So in the case of emissions, for instance, just asking questions is not enough – “you need to help your suppliers”. And while you can’t manage what you can’t measure, “if you only measure, you don’t improve”. We have to work with suppliers to drive improvement. If you just keep measuring, all you are doing is getting a “slightly more accurate view of just how bad you are”, which is no use to anyone.
Perhaps surprisingly, given his own background, Hurrey is critical of the plethora of organisations (commercial firms, lobby or industry groups and third-sector players) who exist in the sustainability space, all trying to help firms make progress. Most of them mean well but “there is so much nonsense and confusion out there, I want to do something about it”, Hurrey explains.
He has counted no less than 187 sustainable procurement initiatives across different sectors, industries or issues. This makes it incredibly confusing for large firms in particular who buy many different items from different geographies to know which they should support and how best they can play a useful and productive role in these collaborative activities.
“There are at least 15 collaborative groups just working in connection with human rights in the supply chain – 6 of them appear to have exactly the same words in their names, just in a different order”! (Hurrey has an engaging sense of humour, as you might be able to tell).
Of course, the vast majority of these groups have good intentions, but the confusion is not helping procurement leaders who already probably have too many issues to consider fully. But there is also a touch of cynicism in his view of some procurement leaders. As part of his work to promote the Pledge, he has interviewed many of those who signed up. What’s interesting, he says, is that all the CPOs say that sustainability is “embedded in everything we do”, and is incredibly important to them and their organisation.
“But when I talk to junior and mid-level professionals, they say that their bosses won’t let them pursue sustainability ideas and approaches”, Hurrey says, and the reality is not always matching the rhetoric. But again, he is positive about the ability of the Pledge to address these barriers. “Most of what is needed exists somewhere – if we can help to curate and communicate that knowledge, we can make life less complicated for procurement”.
Talking of communication, Hurrey chaired a session very expertly at the recent CIPS conference and is clearly a natural and talented communicator, as well as extremely expert in this space. So he seems set to be a leader himself in the purposeful and sustainable procurement world for some years to come. We’re looking forward to working with him on the Pledge and the procurement with purpose agenda and our paths will no doubt cross again.