Procurement is the central lever for embedding circular economy principles across the supply chain. Yet companies frequently lack concrete, verifiable criteria to translate circular requirements into supplier assessments and engagement. Complex standards and a wide range of labels make consistent evaluation difficult. At the same time, circular economy requirements are often considered in isolation from climate targets and other sustainability action areas. Without integrated criteria catalogues and a clear assessment framework, circularity in procurement remains fragmented rather than strategically embedded. Companies that develop circular requirements along the 10R strategies and align them with existing sustainability targets make circular procurement manageable and effective.
We translate circular ambitions into concrete criteria for procurement and supplier management – integrated with climate and other sustainability targets, so that individual measures become a coherent management system.
Together with relevant stakeholders and based on your procurement data, we analyse prioritised material groups and identify key action areas along the 10R strategies – from Reduce and Reuse to Recycle. Building on this, we develop criteria catalogues with concrete requirements and structured assessment instruments for collecting circular performance evidence from suppliers. We deliberately align these criteria with existing climate and sustainability requirements, so that supplier assessment and engagement deliver a consistent, unified picture rather than separate, isolated queries. In workshops, we validate the criteria together with procurement, specialist departments, and selected suppliers before they are integrated into supplier assessments, engagement programmes, and – as a secondary step – tender processes.
Criteria developed once can be transferred to additional material groups and supplier segments, building a growing and consistent foundation for circular supplier management.
Circular procurement criteria – aligned with climate targets – directly support Scope 3 reduction, resource conservation, and overarching sustainability strategies.
Structured assessment data creates lasting transparency for clients and regulators, and strengthens internal governance over the long term.
