Speaker: Suzanne Little

Suzanne Little is Executive Director of Good Environmental Choice Australia. She was elected to GECA's Board in 2007 and developed its green procurement training course. Her other directorship is on the Board of Sydney Metropolitan Catchment Management Authority.

Suzanne was the Environment Director of Sydney's Olympic Games and translated the Olympic Environmental Guidelines into practical sustainability. The NSW Government's 20 Olympic venues were Australia's first showcase of sustainability to the world. Suzanne's other environmental roles have been with the Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand; SAI Global; Maunsell; Vodafone; AGL; NSW Priority Sewerage Program and the Electricity Commission of NSW.

The How to Buy Green session is presented by Good Environmental Choice Australia to explain how you can buy products in an environmentally preferable manner that is sustainable. An organisation which has an effective green procurement system makes a contribution to getting the Earth back into balance again. A properly structured green procurement system allows you to buy goods and services that have a substantially lower impact on the environment while maintaining quality, functionality and cost competitiveness.
Take the time to learn about green procurement and you won't ever be de-railed again by suppliers with greenwash slogans. Don't let confusion ruin your genuine efforts to maintain sustainable purchasing in your organisation.

• Why is Green Procurement so challenging?
  Procurement professionals and householders need to keep up with shifts in corporate and government policy on green purchasing if they want to deliver the best result. While the aim of procurement is to deliver value for money, the aim of green procurement is more challenging because it aims to deliver value for money AND value for the environment. Green procurement is coming to the fore as the best way to get value for money as environmental requirements become stricter. It is the most effective way of transiting to a sustainable world.
  
• What do I learn?
  The session teaches you how to recognise what criteria and specifications are right for your procurement. If you are an organisation, what procedures will align your environmental priorities with your existing purchasing system and activities? You will come to grips with what you need to know about concepts like "Sustainability, Product Certification, Certification; Life-cycle-analysis and Ecolabelling."
  
• Who should attend?
  Green Procurement is intended for the people who make the decisions about which goods and services their organisation buys. They might be procurement professionals, their managers, their environmental advisors or early adopters. The course is suitable for state, federal and local government, public service agencies, non government organisations, corporations, small businesses, start-up / innovative companies and householders.