Sustainable procurement starts with people. Over the past months, Louis Conquéret, an economics and political science student at Sciences Po Paris, stepped into the SPP community with curiosity and courage. He met with procurement professionals to listen, learn, and explore their journeys into procurement, what inspires them to keep going, and how sustainability becomes real through everyday decisions. The result is a series of “My SPP Journey” conversations that bring together three inspiring stories from across our community.
A heartfelt thanks to Fanny Ganti, Thomas Janvier and Muhamad Iqbal for sharing their SPP journey and inspirational tips for current and future procurement professionals. Their stories are as diverse as our community itself – and available now on our SPP Youtube channel. Want to share your SPP journey? Reach out to us at info@spp.earth – we’d love to hear from you!
At SPP, we love inspiring young people to see procurement as a career path — not only as a profession, but as a way to shape more sustainable futures. Louis’ article speaks not only to students and young people curious about their future, but also to procurement and sustainability professionals who may see their own work through fresh eyes. Louis’ work beautifully reflects what SPP stands for: collaboration, shared learning, and a collective commitment to putting sustainability at the heart of procurement.
We’re delighted to share his story — in his own words — with the SPP community:
I’m Louis, an economics and political science student at Sciences Po Paris.
Over the past few months, I’ve been working with the Sustainable Procurement Pledge on a project focused on something often overlooked in sustainability work: people.
Why this project?
Before working with SPP, I hadn’t given much thought to procurement. Like many students, I associated sustainable procurement with boring Excel sheets, cost-benefit analysis, or corporate strategy, but not with impactful purchasing decisions and a real-world impact.
What drew me in was curiosity. I wanted to understand how sustainability actually enters organizations in practice, and who makes that happen. Through SPP, I began to see procurement as the space where ambition meets reality, which made me want to speak directly with the professionals doing this work.
What the project was about
The idea behind the project was simple: have real conversations with procurement and sustainability professionals from the SPP community.
I interviewed six professionals from different countries and backgrounds. Rather than focusing on technical details, I wanted to understand their stories:
- How did they end up in procurement?
- What role did SPP play in their journey?
- And what does sustainable procurement look like in the real world?
What I learned from procurement professionals
One of the strongest insights from these conversations was that almost none of the interviewees planned to work in sustainable procurement.
Most discovered it by chance, and SPP was often a place that shaped their journey towards sustainability. They described SPP as a space where procurement stopped being only about cost or efficiency and started being about impact. In all stories, SPP made them pioneers in their respective fields, teaching others what they have learned.
This community aspect came up repeatedly. SPP connects people across industries, countries, and levels of experience, which matters because sustainability work can feel isolating within organizations. Having a supportive network makes a real difference.
What surprised me most was how active everyone was. Members don’t just consume information. Rather, they contribute to it. They share experiences, challenge ideas, and help shape conversations. SPP is not a passive network; it is a space where knowledge is built collectively, by everyone.
Procurement’s role in sustainability
The interviews made one thing very clear: procurement has enormous power.
Every purchasing decision sends a signal to suppliers, to markets, and to entire value chains. One professional spoke about presenting at a conference on reducing supplier CO₂ emissions and how many people had never considered procurement as part of the climate solution before.
That stayed with me. Procurement isn’t just operational. It’s strategic. It is one of the strongest levers we have to turn sustainability goals into concrete action.
Personal reflections
This project significantly changed how I think about career paths.
Across all interviews, the same qualities stood out: curiosity, humility, collaboration, and a willingness to learn. These are professionals working within imperfect systems, yet still choosing to push for meaningful change.
It made procurement feel not only impactful, but deeply human.
A message to students
If you’re a student and you’ve never thought about procurement, that’s completely normal — I hadn’t either.
But procurement is accessible, dynamic, and closely tied to sustainability. You don’t need to be an expert to start. What matters is curiosity and a willingness to learn from people already working in the field.
SPP is a great place to begin that journey.
If this resonates with you…
I encourage you to explore the SPP community, get involved, volunteer, or simply start conversations.
I hope this helps you look at procurement and its pivotal role in sustainable development a little differently.
Yours,
Louis Conquéret
SPP Ambassador
