ESG Impact Spend

Environmental, Social Impact, Governance

Every dollar we spend is a choice, and those choices have the power to shape the world we live in. Spending impactfully isn’t just a responsibility – it’s a declaration of our values. Each purchase is an opportunity to contribute to positive change, to support businesses that align with our ethical and environmental ideals. It’s not just about the products we buy – it’s about the world we create. Every thoughtful decision we make with our money has the power to shape a brighter and more sustainable future.

Intentional spending

At Vizient®, we’re dedicated to fostering a sustainable and responsible future through our Environmental, Social Impact and Governance (ESG Impact Spend) program. Our mission is to integrate ethical, environmentally conscious and socially responsible practices into every facet of our operations, creating lasting value for our providers, suppliers, communities and the planet.

In our ESG Impact Spend framework, health equity is fundamental, reflecting our commitment to ensuring all individuals have access to quality healthcare and wellness resources. This principle drives our efforts in social responsibility, influencing our strategies and operations to dismantle disparities and foster inclusive health outcomes.

Environmental: Our commitment to environmental sustainability extends beyond our operations, aiming to reduce negative human and environmental health impacts. We collaborate with healthcare providers and suppliers to implement healthy, safe, and resilient initiatives, recognizing the pivotal role the healthcare sector plays in combating climate change and promoting a healthier planet for our communities.

Social: At the heart of our mission is a profound dedication to social responsibility, emphasizing health equity and access to quality healthcare for all. We work closely with healthcare providers, suppliers, and local communities to develop and support programs that address social determinants of health and increasing supply spend with diverse and small businesses, ensuring our efforts lead to meaningful improvements in patient outcomes and community wellness.

Governance: Upholding the highest standards of governance and ethics, we foster transparency, integrity, and accountability in all our interactions and decisions. Our stakeholders rely on us to lead with principles that prioritize safety, transparency, and fair practices, ensuring we not only meet but exceed regulatory requirements and ethical expectations in the healthcare sector.

Environmental

Healthcare providers and suppliers look to Vizient for guidance in improving environmental sustainability because climate health is human health. Healthcare has a significant impact on the environment, with more than 8% of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions coming from this sector. Most of these emissions, about 80%, are from the supply chain – also known as scope 3 emissions. Vizient is leading the way as a pioneer. Our experts can help stakeholders identify strategies that build stronger, healthier communities while balancing environmental and business impacts.

Our environmental initiatives include performance improvement in the following areas:

Climate action
Energy efficiency
Waste reduction
Water conservation
Environmentally preferred purchasing
Sustainable design
Transportation Demand Management

We believe our services and solutions set the standard for reducing our provider’s environmental impact while empowering smart, sustainable, resilient choices. Key aspects of our Environmental Sustainability Strategy and Services include:

Unparalleled Insights: A portfolio with over 535,000 contracted products and over 3.4 million environmentally preferred attributes collected. Within the portfolio is an Environmentally Preferred Designated portfolio in which products and suppliers that meet pre-defined sustainability criteria with proof of third-party eco-certifications have been vetted.
Transparent Sustainability Data Collection: Collection of environmentally preferred attributes to enable members to view attributes during any product search and can also narrow search results according to desired attributes.
Environmental Sustainability Optimized Insights: Showcases conversion scenarios to the cleanest and safest products on contract while also reducing cost.
Environmental Sustainability Provider Roadmap: Provides transparent and actionable scopes 1, 2, and 3 carbon calculations, identifies peer performance for benchmarking and provides carbon sensitive recommendations for performance improvement opportunities when possible.
Carbon Disclosures: Our contracting process includes questions about products’ environmental attributes, supplier’s commitment to greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions, GHG reporting and Climate Action Plans to improve performance; submission of environmentally preferred attribute information by suppliers is an element of the non-financial criteria in all Vizient contract awards.
Environmental Advisory Council: Provides strategic direction, focus, and advocacy for our Environmental Sustainability Strategy and Services, as well as corporate citizenship and sustainability.
Environmental Sustainability Task Force: Comprised of broad suppliers to accelerate environmental sustainability performance.
Climate Performance Solutions: Offers a comprehensive approach to integrate sustainable business practices. Our Climate Performance Solutions works with providers and suppliers to understand their sustainability and decarbonization goals, review data, and plan ahead for actionable solutions.
Environmentally Preferred Advisory Solutions: Offers our members a comprehensive solution for integrating sustainable business practices into their organization. Consultants partner with members to arrive at realistic, meaningful, and impactful goals for sustainability planning and decarbonizing.
Industry Advocacy: We align providers, suppliers and industry groups to set standards and engage beyond our membership.

Advancing Healthcare Sustainability

Healthcare providers and suppliers look to Vizient for guidance in improving supply chain sustainability.

Our experts can help stakeholders identify strategies that build stronger, healthier communities while balancing environmental and business impacts.

Standardized Product Attributes: We collaborated with our Environmental Advisory Council to identify and define 23 environmentally preferred product attributes to help the healthcare industry standardize. Request a copy of the attribute definitions below (ask for information: name, email, organization, etc.).

Environmental Sustainability (ES) Toolkit: The ES toolkit helps hospitals and health systems understand key considerations for implementing environmentally preferred purchasing policies and programs. These resources help users set reasonable, meaningful and achievable targets that are financially viable, environmentally sound, health improving and inspiring.

Vizient Sustainability Tracker: Download and use our innovative tool to record your organization’s energy and resource consumption – past, present and future. Unique insights can point you to the most effective opportunities for addressing your environmental footprint.

To improve your sustainability performance, we encourage you to please connect with the Vizient Environmental Sustainability team.

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