Assignment – 1

Case Summary
The world is moving towards sustainability and procurement being at starting point of supply chain
holds a crucial role. World needs innovations in green procurement methods but the barriers are the
biggest problem in that path. Hence, barrier analysis should be done at each stage to identify and
mitigate the barriers. India has vowed to reduce its emissions from 33% to 35% by 2003 from the levels
of 2005 and Indian Railway being the largest consumer of electricity (2.4% of total electricity generated)
can help in achieving this feat.

To identify the barriers in green procurement, a survey was conducted and the results were published
before the chief procurement officers of the different zones. It helped in making them aware with the
concept of green procurement. To exploit the purchasing power of the government, Mr. Sanjay Kumar
challenged the organizational leaderships to adopt this practice. A 2 nd survey was also conducted which
showed that now people are more aware of green procurement than earlier. In their views, role of the
central and state governments and also the judiciary was very critical.

The workshop on Green Public Procurement in Indian Railways organized by UNEP which prompted
Indian Railways to establish an inter-departmental working group to study the green procurement
policies of various countries and draft an action plan for implementing the same at IR. By the end on
2013, GOI also introduced Public Procurement Bill in parliament but it couldn’t pass because the ruling
party changed in the elections. The new government introduced a new manual for procurement of
goods in 2017 with provisions for embedding sustainability in procurement decisions. Indian Railway as
an organization is committed to reduce its emission intensity by 32% by 2030. Green procurement may
result in higher cost in long term therefore suppliers wanted a long term contract with IR. It was an
opinion that lack of knowledge about green procurement was also a barrier. Individuals might think that
opting for green procurement will add extra burden on economy and hamper the economic
development. Also there was a lack of environmental concerns among individuals. It was also observed
that the support of the management was very important for innovation.

The barrier analysis has definitely increased the awareness about green procurement and has brought a
positive change in the attitude of the concerned people. However the necessary commitment and is yet
to be expressed.