UBC joins national CASPAR initiative for sustainable procurement
UBC is part of CAUBO-ACPAU-Sustainable Procurement-Approvisionnement Responsable (CASPAR), a new Canadian inter-university working group on sustainable procurement. The group is a collaborative forum with materials, training, and other knowledge-sharing opportunities for procurement practitioners at CAUBO member institutions.
UBC and other major institutions like Carleton University, Simon Fraser University, and the University of Toronto are working to share strategies and develop common practices to reduce the social, environmental, and climate impacts of university spending.
CASPAR’s three key objectives:
- Building capacity: Bringing all Canadian universities on board with sustainable procurement
- Developing common efforts: Develop a common language about sustainable procurement, and possibly common tools such as standard contract clauses, benchmarking tools, and shared key performance indicators
- Monitoring the market: Monitoring industry issues, standards or regulatory developments, and promoting best practices.
“We are proud to be part of this initiative,” says Carolyn Arthur, Senior Manager, Procurement Programs in Finance & Integrated Services, “Collaborating in CASPAR and pursuing sustainable procurement offer a tremendous opportunity to influence UBC’s social, environmental, and climate footprint.”