Sustainable procurement

Sustainable procurement policy

These principles are set out in the following documents:

• The Procurement Code of Conduct, translated into several languages, which applies to all Group employees engaged in Procurement activities
• The Sustainable Procurement policy, updated in 2018, lays out the guidelines to be applied by the procurement departments to integrate ethical, social and environmental aspects in their procurement processes, and defines the prevention approach for the related supplier risks. A CSR commitment clause (covering compliance with the Supplier’s Code of Conduct, safety, and the environment) is included in the contract templates used by the Procurement teams and signed by suppliers

Our requirements to suppliers

The Supplier’s Code of Conduct aims to promote and enforce practices relating to human rights, ethics, the protection of the environment and safety.

Air Liquide expects each of its suppliers to respect the Group's ethical principles and to ensure that this Code of Conduct is respected by all their employees and subcontractors.

Download supplier’s code of conduct

• English
• French
• German
• Dutch
• Spanish
• Italian
• Portuguese
• Russia
• Greek
• Arabic
• Chinese and Chinese + English
• Japanese
• Korean

As part of its supplier monitoring approach, the Group classes its critical suppliers according to seven main criteria including, in particular, the supplier’s business, the amount of average expenditure with the supplier, and the supplier’s dependency ratio to Air Liquide.

Among its critical suppliers, 1,200 present a critical CSR risk for the Group. The aim is to assess their CSR performance through to 2020. Corrective action plans are regularly implemented for those with an unsatisfactory score. In 2018, more than 230 suppliers were assessed.

A recognized sustainable procurement approach

In April 2018, Air Liquide received recognition from EcoVadis in the “Sustainable Procurement: Stakeholder Engagement” category. These awards recognize best-in-class practices and commitment to founding sustainable procurement programs.