Sustainable Procurement

What Sustainable Procurement does

Sustainable Procurement Limited (SPL) is a UK-based boutique consultancy founded in 2004 that advises public, private, and third sector organisations on embedding sustainability, circular economy, and social value into procurement and supply chain practices. Its service portfolio spans strategic advisory, policy and framework development, environmental and socio-economic risk assessment, capability building (training, mentoring, executive briefings), and bespoke e-learning modules. Core proprietary IP includes the SPL Toolbox — comprising the Prioritisation Methodology, Flexible Framework Assessment Tool, Sustainability Test, Contracts Tool, and Forward Commitment Procurement approach — developed and tested over two decades with UK and international public sector bodies, and aligned with ISO 14001:2015 life cycle management standards.

The firm is anchored by two internationally recognised directors (Barbara Morton and Philip Duddell), supported by a manager and small administration/research team, giving an effective headcount of approximately five client-facing professionals. Its technology is principally methodological — life cycle impact mapping, circular economy modelling, socio-economic risk frameworks, and assessment tools — delivered via consulting, training frameworks, e-learning modules hosted on platforms such as the Scottish Government sustainable procurement tools site, and research outputs (e.g., Scope 3 supply chain emissions studies). Recent activity has included e-learning modules such as Climate Literacy for Procurers (1,200+ learners) and Circular Procurement and Supply.

Commercially, SPL generates revenue through three professional-services streams: consulting engagements, training and capability building (delivered as sole provider under the Scottish Government Procurement and Commercial Training Framework), and research/analysis projects. International development work is delivered through a channel partnership with Merrill Solutions Ltd, and the firm maintains a regional subsidiary (Sustainable Procurement Ltda - SRL) in Paraguay to serve Latin American engagements. Customers are concentrated in UK and international public sector — Scottish Government, NHS Scotland, GLA Group, World Bank, African Development Bank, ITAIPU Binacional — with episodic private sector engagements (Johnson & Johnson, Balfour Beatty, United Utilities, Northern Rail). Pricing is project-based and not publicly disclosed.

Name

Sustainable Procurement

Legal name

Sustainable Procurement Limited

Website

https://sustainableprocurement.eu.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2004

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Sustainable Procurement Limited is a UK boutique consultancy founded in 2004 that advises governments, multilaterals, and select private sector clients on embedding sustainability, circular economy, and social value into procurement, delivering advisory, training, and proprietary assessment tools across 50+ countries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Sustainability Consulting Services

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro primary industry

Procurement & Strategic Sourcing (BPAHAHAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Public Procurement & Contracting (BPAIAEAE)

Keywords

• Sustainable procurement consulting
• Environmental advisory services
• Circular economy procurement
• Supply chain sustainability
• Public sector training

Headquarters

HQ city

Auchterarder

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Professional Consulting Services: Advisory engagements providing sustainable procurement consulting, policy development, and implementation support to public and private sector organisations. Services include organisational resilience assessment, environmental risk evaluation, and procurement strategy development.
2. Training and Capability Building: Delivery of sustainable procurement training programs, workshops, mentoring, executive briefings, and bespoke e-learning modules. Provided under Scottish Government Procurement and Commercial Training Framework as sole sustainable procurement training provider.
3. Research and Analysis: Research projects including scope 3 supply chain emissions analysis, circular economy opportunity modelling, and sustainable procurement indicator development for international development organisations.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Sustainable Procurement Limited is a sustainable business consultancy providing advisory, training, and assessment services to public, private, and third sector clients. Its core work covers sustainable procurement policy and strategy development, supply chain environmental and social risk and opportunity assessment, capacity building through training and e-learning, circular economy and innovation procurement advisory, and bespoke research.

Product overview

Sustainable Procurement Limited is a sustainable business consultancy offering advisory services rather than a unified software product. The company provides a portfolio of professional services including strategic advisory consulting, training programs, e-learning modules (such as Climate Literacy for Procurers and Circular Procurement and Supply), and assessment tools (including the SPL Toolbox with Prioritisation Methodology and Contracts Tool). These services are delivered through training, mentoring, guidance documents, and workshops to help public, private, and third sector organizations embed sustainable procurement practices.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Sustainable Procurement Advisory Services Consultancy engagement providing strategic insight, policy development, risk and opportunity assessment, and implementation support for sustainable procurement and supply chain practices to public, private and third sector organisations.
• SPL Toolbox A suite of tools and techniques covering early stage planning through to monitoring and reporting, including the Prioritisation Methodology and Contracts Tool, developed and tested for organisational requirements.
• Prioritisation Methodology A strategic planning tool helping procurers identify categories where sustainable risks and opportunities are a priority, balancing spend, environmental and socio-economic risk, scope to address issues and market influence.
• Contracts Tool (Sustainability Test) A tool enabling procurers to identify relevant environmental and socio-economic risks and opportunities to be included within contract requirements and frameworks.
• Sustainable Procurement Flexible Framework An organisational assessment framework for planning and tracking progress in sustainable procurement, updated to be relevant for all public sector organisations with a supporting Action Plan.
• Climate Literacy for Procurers E-learning An e-learning module in three parts (The Climate Challenge, Responding to the Challenge, Taking Action) helping buyers understand and act on their role in addressing the Climate Emergency through procurement.
• Circular Procurement and Supply E-learning An e-learning module on circular procurement and supply, available through the Scottish Government's sustainable procurement tools site, supporting circular economy outcomes through public procurement.
• Sustainable Procurement Training Training programmes covering sustainable procurement principles and practice, including courses on Life Cycle Costing and Social Issues in procurement, delivered under the Scottish Government Procurement and Commercial Training Framework.
• Capability and Capacity Building Services Services including training, bespoke e-learning, webinars, mentoring, executive briefings and specific environmental and social modules to build organisational capability in sustainable procurement.
• Impact Assessment Services Services covering environmental and social life cycle impact analysis, prioritisation of categories and commodities, mapping of stakeholders and supply chains, and ISO14001:2015 Life Cycle management compliance.
• Forward Commitment Procurement An innovation procurement methodology involving industrialists, investors and assessors evaluating candidate technologies for forward commitment, representing early adoption of circular economy principles.
• Circular Procurement Guidance and E-learning Circular procurement guidance and e-learning developed for the Greater London Authority Group, supporting circular economy outcomes through procurement across GLA, TfL, London Fire Brigade and other member bodies.
• Procurement for Innovation Support Advisory services supporting public sector bodies in applying innovation procurement approaches, engaging with markets, and developing appropriate tender specifications for innovative solutions such as recycled-materials infrastructure.

Quantifiable outcome

• Trained over 1,250 procurers in Scottish public sector alone, and over 1,000 in UK through Marrakech Task Force approach
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers14 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

16 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Merrill Solutions LtdcoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerWorking as associate of Merrill Solutions Ltd for international development projects including World Bank sustainable procurement training programs in West Africa (Ghana, Senegal), Tanzania e-learning development, and MENA region training.
• Aether LimitedcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborated with Aether Limited on scope 3 procurement emissions research project for Scottish public sector, providing technical support on supply chain emissions analysis and methodology development.
• Eunomia Research and ConsultingcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSub-contract partner for NHS Scotland circular procurement research project alongside Ditto Sustainability and Sustainable Global Resources, focusing on ICT, Furniture, Walking Aids, and Medical Devices.
• Ditto SustainabilitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSub-contract partner for NHS Scotland circular procurement research project on circular business models for healthcare procurement.
• Circular Innovation CouncilminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in EU-Canada project 'Using procurement to reduce plastic waste' 2022/23, working with European Office for Economic Policy and Regional Development and Mervyn Jones of Sustainable Global Resources.
• Zero Waste ScotlandcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-standing partnership on ProCirc circular procurement program, mentoring support, and guidance development including 'Procuring for a Circular Economy' category guidance.
• Greater London Authority GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDelivered Responsible Procurement Policy development, training, circular procurement guidance and e-learning modules for GLA Group comprising GLA, Transport for London, London Fire Brigade, and others.
• Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Innovation (ECCI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on innovation and circular construction training with construction contractors including Balfour Beatty, McLoughlin and Harvey, Kier, Robertson and Sir Robert McAlpine.
• Cleantech Innovation GeelongcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with City of Greater Geelong on Procurement for Innovation framework, supporting development of age-defying geopolymer pedestrian bridges using recycled materials.
• ITAIPU BinacionalcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupporting implementation of Sustainable Procurement Programme for world's largest hydroelectric plant (Brazil/Paraguay), developing Sustainable Procurement Indicators as part of organisation's sustainability goals.
• World BankcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerExpert input to Sustainable Procurement Guidance development for IDA borrower countries, supported West Africa training programs in Ghana and Senegal, and Grenada procurement policy development.
• African Development BankcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIncorporating sustainable procurement into Bank's Procurement Manual, policy development, training and support as part of Bank's Strategy 2013-2022 'At the Center of Africa's Transformation'.
• Buying Social Justice Research ProjectminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBarbara Morton served on Project Advisory Board for two-year ESRC-funded research project on use of public procurement for advancing employment equality in UK construction.
• Local Government AssociationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDeveloped 'Sustainable Procurement: Delivering local economic, social and environmental priorities' toolkit for UK councils following extensive consultation.
• GIMPA (Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHosted sustainable public procurement training delivered in Accra, March 2024, with training-of-trainers package for GIMPA staff, World Bank, and regional academics.
• NHS ScotlandcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-standing partnership on sustainable procurement, Green Plans, and circular economy research including work with Zero Waste Scotland on ICT, Furniture, Walking Aids, and Medical Devices.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Anthesis Group: Global sustainability advisory firm offering procurement, supply chain and circular economy consulting. Comparable because it competes for the same UK and international sustainable procurement mandates but at significantly larger scale and broader service portfolio.
• Carbon Trust: UK-headquartered climate and sustainability consultancy advising governments and corporates on Net Zero, procurement and supply chain decarbonisation. Comparable as a broader incumbent offering overlapping sustainable procurement advisory alongside a much wider portfolio.
• Environmental Resources Management (ERM): Global environmental, sustainability and supply chain consultancy. Overlaps with SPL on sustainable procurement and supply chain sustainability engagements with multinational corporates and development finance institutions at much larger scale.
• South Pole Group: Global climate and sustainability consultancy providing advisory on supply chain decarbonisation, climate strategy and sustainable procurement. Comparable as a larger incumbent with overlapping advisory offerings to corporates and public-sector buyers.
• BSR (Business for Social Responsibility): Global sustainable business network and consultancy advising companies on supply chain sustainability and human rights. Comparable on sustainable procurement strategy and supply chain advisory, particularly for multinational private-sector clients.
• Ricardo Energy & Environment: UK-based environmental and energy consultancy providing sustainability, climate and policy advisory. Comparable as a broader incumbent serving UK and European public-sector clients with adjacent sustainable procurement and circular economy expertise.

Direct peers

• Action Sustainability: UK consultancy focused on sustainable procurement, social value and supply chain sustainability. Directly comparable to SPL because it serves UK public-sector clients with sustainable procurement training, policy and supply-chain advisory.
• Ditto Sustainability: UK-based sustainability consultancy specialising in circular economy and procurement. Sub-contracted alongside SPL on the NHS Scotland circular procurement project, serving the same public-sector and healthcare buyer base.
• Aether Limited: UK environmental consultancy specialising in climate, air quality and sustainability data. Aether is a direct peer because it partnered with SPL on the Scope 3 procurement emissions research project, competing for similar public-sector climate advisory mandates.
• Eunomia Research and Consulting: UK-based environmental consultancy operating in circular economy, sustainability and procurement. Eunomia is a direct comparable because it co-delivers NHS Scotland circular procurement research with SPL and operates in the same niche of public-sector sustainability advisory.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/SustProc
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sustainable-procurement-limited

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Sustainable Procurement