Procurement is called sustainable when the organization uses its buying power to give a signal to the market in favour of sustainability by integrating in its choice of goods and services:

1.Economic considerations - best value for money, price quality, availability and functionality
2.Environmental considerations - the effects on environment that the product has over its whole life cycle, from cradle to grave,
3.Social equity considerations - effects of purchasing decisions on issues such as poverty, eradications, international equity in the distribution of resources, labour conditions, human rights etc.

(World Bank / UNEP/ UNDP IAPSO Sustainable procurement training program)

Thus Sustainability combines commercial efficiency, ecology and social commitment.

At Bayer we have committed ourselves to the ten principles of the United Nations Global Compact in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti corruption. The Global Compact asks companies to embrace, support and enact, within their sphere of influence, a set of core values in the areas of human rights, labour standards, environment and anti - corruption.

Sustainability is becoming more and more important for all our other stake holders viz. customers and investors and there is also a lot of pressure to conform to these principles of sustainability. They expect sustainability not only at Bayer, but also along the entire supply chain.

Procurement at Bayer CropScience, India, has, therefore, embarked on a campaign in January this year that will help not only our suppliers to attain sustainability at their end but also help in taking the sustainability to the next tier of suppliers in the supply chain.

We selected key and strategic suppliers from our list of business partners in order to make a first hand assessment of the state of sustainability. The objective was clearly to make them appreciate the relevance of sustainability in today's world where India is seen as an important trade partner by most countries in the global business arena.

Bayer's key values include "Respect for people and nature" and the "sustainability of our actions". In every thing that we do we are guided by our values and it is our goal to improve people's quality of life and make that life more pleasant through our innovative products and services.

Our Supplier Sustainability program rests on four pillars which are as under:

1.The Human Rights Principles Our suppliers accept / believe that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, no matter what race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status they have.

2.Labour Standard Principles Our suppliers eliminate all forms of forced or compulsory labour and effectively abolish child labour.

3.Environmental Protection and Product Safety Our suppliers support efficient deployment of resources and energy, climate protection and consumer- and employee protection by developing risk free products and production processes.

4.Transparency and Anti-corruption Our suppliers are not corrupt. They do not misuse their power and/or position, they do not bribe and they do not accept bribes. This includes any gift, loan, fee, reward or other advantage.

We will endeavor to focus increasingly on these aspects in our partnership with our suppliers to ensure that we are all aligned completely with the Values of Bayer. We count on the support of our supply chain partners to take this initiative to their next level of suppliers and supplier's suppliers in the coming years.

In our attempt to motivate our suppliers to attain higher levels of sustainability we introduced a special award in our Baybuy awards 2007 (rewarding supplier performance) under which the two top scorers in our Sustainability Audit Program were rewarded. Excel Crop Care were the winners and Rallis India won the Runners -up trophy.

K.R.Sekhar
Vice -President - Procurement & Logistics
Bayer CropScience Limited
Powai, Mumbai, India