Traction examples

Environmental legislation training for micro and small businesses

One of the most powerful tools for supplier engagement is the application of green criteria in procurement and contracting. Although this practice is widespread at public level, it is still incipient in the private sector. As a result, 8 companies from the Basque Ecodesign Center and a cluster are working with Ihobe to pilot and deploy a practical and operative methodology for the integration of environmental criteria in private sector procurement and contracting in the Basque Country.

It is hoped that this initiative can lead to actions that raise the profile of the results obtained and promote the integration of these criteria among the Basque Country's different private sectors, and that it fosters synergies that can arise from the pilot scheme to address the advancement of the environmental variable in the value chain of the participating companies, all in a coherent atmosphere compatible with other tools regularly used in the private sector.

In addition to sending a clear signal to the market, this project will be key to feeding the design of the Basque Country 2030 green procurement Programme.

The regional Government of Baden-Württemberg takes an interest in the Basque Ecodesign Center

Ihobe, in representation of the Basque Government and the Basque Ecodesign Center, held a session to exchange experiences in the field of ecodesign and the circular economy with its counterpart from the Ministry of the Environment, Climate Protection and the Energy Sector from the federal State of Baden-Württemberg.

This German region is a reference in the field of the circular economy, particularly in municipal waste management, market inspection with a focus on compliance with the Ecodesign Directive and in the deployment of the circular economy in its companies.

The activities developed by the Basque Country and Baden-Württemberg in these fields were presented at the meetings held at the Ministry head office. The Basque Ecodesign Center and the Basque Ecodesign Meeting were two of the Basque initiatives that most called the attention of the German public administration. As a result, they agreed on possible areas of cooperation and opportunities for exchanges between the two regions.

Environmental legislation training for micro and small businesses

According to the familiar spirit that Vicinay Cadenas wants to keep maintaining, a great number of organisations in its supply chain are micro and small businesses, sometimes with scarce internal resources that can be allocated to a sustainable management of the organisation.

With the aim of supporting and transferring to these companies basic concepts of environmental legislation and procedures as well as the actual internal environmental management that they could implement in their companies, Vicinay Cadenas worked with its value chain in order to improve the environmental performances, specifically with Mecanizado Cigor, Mecanizados San Miguel, Talleres Sopuerta, EISSEN, EIT Getxo, EBI, RAZYA.

Iberdrola influences its supply chain in the design of electrical substations

Within the framework of the project developed by Iberdrola for the "Redesign of an electrical substation", using the substation located in the town of Ordizia as a starting point, the company took the decision to involve its entire supply chain.

Their reasons for doing so were twofold. Firstly, they wanted to share environmental information about their equipment (management of product environmental information throughout the supply chain). Secondly, they wanted to encourage their suppliers to develop ecodesigned subcomponents for the new substation, drawing on technical support by Ihobe. Ormazabal, a member of the Basque Ecodesign Center, participated in this project, as well as the following firms: Incoesa, Adhorna, ABB, Arteche, Ingeteam Power Technology and ZIV Aplicaciones y Tecnología.

Gerdau, a supplier of steel, provides environmental information about their product to Vicinay Cadenas

The dissemination of environmental criteria among the Basque Ecodesign Center's suppliers aims to further promote the development of ecodesign within the Basque industrial fabric. Vicinay Cadenas in particular has begun working with its major steel supplier, Gerdau, in the management of environmental information throughout the supply chain.

In the course of this environmentalisation of the supply chain, and as part of its ongoing commitment to preparing Environmental Product Declarations, Vicinay Cadenas requested environmental information from Gerdau regarding the characteristics of the steel it purchases from them. Thanks to this request, Gerdau begun compiling this information and searching for solutions to reduce its environmental impact, and thus, the environmental impact of its clients, such as Vicinay Cadenas.

Iberdrola fosters the Life Cycle Thinking concept at Scottish owner, its subsidiary in Scotland

IBERDROLA organised several training courses for its value chain. An example was the training course at the premise of its subsidiary in Scotland, ScottishPower, for the different business units of the company: Renewables, Generation, Distribution and Iberdrola Engineering. The goal was to raise awareness about the innovation concepts in environmental management, such as: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), environmental footprint and environmental product declarations and their potential application in the different areas of activity. The ScottishPower environmental managers and technicians attended the course.

The initiative was a success as it helped to identify lines of work. The environmental awareness in Scotland could be clearly seen in the level of attendance and participation, as well from the highest assessment by the Ihobe technical team, which supported the training tasks.

The Scottish Government interested in the Basque Ecodesign Center

The Scottish government requested a meeting with a technical delegation from the Basque Ecodesign Center, in order to learn more about the initiative and the results obtained in the Basque Country in order to implement a similar scheme in Scotland.

Representatives from different institutions and departments of the Scottish government, led by Scottish Enterprise and SPEA - Scottish Environment Protection Agency, took part in the meeting. Iberdrola representatives were also there and they reported on their practical experience regarding the initiative and the ScottishPower commitment should a similar scheme be implemented in Scotland.