Hari Srinivas
	Concept Note Series E-077. June 2015.

T

Businesses are increasingly looking at making their operations more environmentally sustainable - driven by pressures that are:

• internal (cutting costs, preventive or remedial measures etc.), and
• external (an aware clientele, discerning consumers public policies/laws etc.).

A number of concepts are currently in vouge to help businesses become more environmentally sustainable. They are directed at both the supply and demand ends of the product lifecycle, and often span the entire continuum.

• A Quick Introduction to Green Productivity
• Why Green Productivity?
• Green Productivity Techniques
• Steps, Tasks and Tools of Green Productivity

G

reen consumerism creates a balance between the expectations of consumer behaviour and businesses' profit motives - within the orbit of environmental protection. It is increasingly calls upon to look at the entire life cycle of a consumer's purchases - because a consumer does not just buys 'a' product, but also everything that went into its production, and everything that will happen in the future as a result of that product.

We need to realize that all products have an environmental impact, however small. The concept of green consumers also focusses on businesses, and their survivability as they respond quickly to demands of consumers for products and services that are also environmentally friendly.

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A

business' green procurement policy (also called a Green Purchasing Policy) should strive to purchase products and services that have less negative impact on the environment.

Environmental considerations forms part of the evaluation and selection criteria, which could cover, depending on goods and services to be purchased, their manufacture, transport, packaging and disposal.

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