Using public procurement to build supply chains resilience to climate change

The recent COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the vulnerability and interconnectedness of global supply chains (GSCs)(Gereffi, 2020), which are increasingly subject to external shocks, including those produced by climate change, wherein effects compound year by year (Kara et al., 2021), or better to say,‘centigrade by centigrade’. Climate change-related disruptions have far-reaching consequences on GSCs, affecting multiple industries, countries and stakeholders, necessitating a reevaluation of GSCs strategies and risk management approaches (Sarkis et al., 2020). Paradoxically, while GSCs are affected by climate change, they also significantly contribute to it. Recent studies estimate that emissions from GSCs related to climate change surpass operational emissions by a factor of 11.4 (CDP, 2023). These emissions result from activities associated with sourcing, production, transportation and disposal across the entire supply chain. Thus, investigating what is and what can be done to make GSCs more resilient while reducing their impact on climate change is very compelling.