The silent power of procurement to drive impact in the value chain

With temperatures in much of the northern hemisphere turning cooler, you could be forgiven for forgetting that 2026 saw the hottest summer on record. Fast forward to October with temperatures receding and the London leaves turning and an event high above the City of London at infrastructure consultancy AECOM’s gleaming headquarters on Aldgate.

Taking centre stage were those who have real power to drive impact – procurement leads, gathering for a discussion on “Procuring Net Zero: Turning Carbon Targets into Built Outcomes".  Procurement specialists from the likes of Heathrow Airport, Skanska and innovative start-ups such as Low Carbon Materials outlined practical insights on the opportunities and challenges of embedding carbon outcomes into procurement processes. The role of strategic communicators was also touched upon.

To some this topic may sound dry and somewhat niche but if you looked outside the window of AECOM’s HQ you can quickly see how these decision makers can make a difference. As we gathered for coffee before the event, we all pointed to the dramatic changes to the London skyline over the last 20 years alone. Take the Shard or the ‘Cheese grater’: both were topped out in 2012 and 2013 respectively. 

Buildings and infrastructure like this - what is termed as the ‘built environment’ - contributes roughly 35-40% of global CO₂ emissions. The category covers all human-made structures from homes to offices, commercial buildings and everything from roads, including both building operations and the embodied carbon in construction materials.

Against this context, the procurement function now has significantly more formal authority and practical influence over sustainability, especially in the UK where the Procurement Act 2023 embeds environmental and social value directly into how contracts are awarded and managed. Of course, procurement has always shaped supply chains, but recent regulatory and market shifts have expanded its leverage. 

It means striking a balancing act in navigation and communication with multiple stakeholders from policy committees to regulators to local authorities to investors, the general public and audiences beyond. 

Take Heathrow Airport which has a strategy of ‘Connecting People and Planet’, explicitly framing sustainability as central to its business model and long‑term licence to operate. Its Procurement Director, Paul Doherty outlined how critical it is for the business to understand what motivates supply chain partners and how contributions are made real. He laid out an ambition and opportunity: “We want Heathrow to be the poster child of your sustainability initiative”. 

The onus to build more sustainably presents opportunities for start-ups which need funding and awareness to scale. Low Carbon Materials (LCM is an award-winning climate tech company based in County Durham. The team has engineered carbon-negative additives which act as replacements in building materials, locking away carbon dioxide permanently within the built environment. Its CEO and co-founder Natasha Boulding explained how procurement is critical to meeting net zero targets and how awareness with stakeholders is essential: “for start-ups to scale we need long-term visibility”. 

For me the conversation highlighted how a relatively unsung business area -procurement - holds some of the keys to driving impact when it comes to sustainable business. The challenge isn’t just setting carbon targets, but ensuring those ambitions are delivered successfully from strategy and procurement through to delivery and operations – and wider awareness of impact.

Communicating your case effectively to stakeholders is one part of the puzzle and advocating successfully means going beyond regulatory compliance and gaining reputational credit.