As a global and responsible company, Atos Origin is committed to implement sustainable best practices (environmental, social, ethical areas) throughout its organization and in its business, and contributes to promoting and developing sustainable behaviour by positively influencing its stakeholders to take into consideration sustainability in their decision making and business.
One of the challenges is to ensure that the company anticipates, identifies, controls and manages the possible risks and impacts of its activities on environment, society and more generally on communities in which it operates.
Sustainability has become a significant part of our decision-making process in selecting new partners, suppliers or subcontractors. As a result, in Spring 2008, Atos Origin decides to integrate environmental, social and ethical criteria into its global purchasing process.
This ambitious programme aims at:
- integrating 'corporate responsibility' at every stage of the purchasing cycle (identification of needs, suppliers' selection, relation management)
- arousing purchasers' awareness (education, incentive, tools)
- measuring suppliers' social and environmental performance
- integrating 'sustainability' into the purchasing function through the elaboration of new KPIs
A Sustainable Supplier Charter has been edited and Group's suppliers worldwide are asked to adhere to it. The Group also entered into partnership with a Sustainable Supply Management solutions provider in order to evaluate the social and environmental performance of its suppliers. Sustainability criteria have also been integrated into the Purchasers' code of conduct and a specific awareness program launched internally.
"Most of our clients have already integrated sustainable development into their global strategy and expect the same level of commitment from their suppliers", explains Marjo Lazaro, Atos Origin Chief Purchasing Officer. "It's not a question of reinventing the purchasing policy, but simply to implement solutions guaranteeing that sustainability criteria will be integrated into purchasers' practices and taken into consideration by our suppliers. It should not be perceived as an additional constraint, but as a real contribution to improve business performance."