Procurement in Schools: Why It Matters
Procurement in schools, the purchase of goods, services, and resources, has a significant environmental, social, and financial impact. Unsustainable procurement, such as buying single-use products, high-carbon items, or goods from suppliers with poor environmental or ethical standards, contributes to a school’s Scope 3 emissions, which represent indirect emissions from the supply chain. These emissions often make up a substantial part of a school’s carbon footprint, affecting energy use, transport, and the lifecycle impact of materials. Poor procurement practices can also increase waste, costs, and missed opportunities to support responsible suppliers, highlighting the importance of sustainable purchasing.
Why Schools Should Engage
Engaging with sustainable procurement helps schools reduce environmental impact, manage costs, and model responsible consumption. Considering suppliers’ carbon footprints, ethical practices, and product lifecycles allows schools to lower Scope 3 emissions and promote circular economy principles. Involving students, staff, and families in these decisions encourages understanding of sustainability, ethical sourcing, and climate responsibility, embedding these values within the school community.
Actions and Embedding Sustainability
Schools can adopt sustainable procurement by setting environmental and ethical standards for suppliers, prioritising low-carbon, reusable, or locally sourced products, and auditing purchases to identify high-impact areas. Embedding these practices across the curriculum helps students understand supply chains, carbon footprints, and resource efficiency. Practical actions include creating eco-policies, integrating procurement decisions into student projects, and celebrating sustainable initiatives within the school community. Over time, these practices cultivate a culture of responsible consumption, equipping students with the knowledge and values to make sustainable choices beyond school.
Sustainable Procurement in Schools
This webinar from Education Buying on sustainable and ethical procurement in schools to learn how to balance cost, social value, and environmental impact. Explore the Procurement Act, practical tendering strategies, supplier insights, and frameworks that streamline green, ethical purchasing for schools.
The UK Schools Sustainability Network (UKSSN) Operations Group offers a network for school business, estates and operations staff to collaborate on sustainability. It provides resources, regular online meetings, expert‑written articles, guidance on green procurement, operations, and case studies sharing practical climate‑action in schools.
The Sustainability Support for Education site offers schools free guidance and tools to embed sustainable procurement practices. It helps assess suppliers, track carbon and indirect emissions, apply green, ethical criteria, and connects schools with expert advisors and frameworks for compliant, value‑driven purchasing.
This green procurement policy example from Eco Schools provides a practical framework to improve eco-friendly purchasing, cost-effective sourcing, and supplier expectations. It guides schools to review current practices, identify improvements, and develop tailored sustainable procurement strategies aligned with environmental goals.
