Outside of the United States, 91% of companies that participated in a survey by Rackspace Hosting said that sustainability has been built into their purchasing decisions on either a periodic or standard basis.

The survey results show sustainability expanding from a “nice to have,” to a “need to have,” as companies find that selecting solid partners as part of their supply chain helps lower the risk and promote more efficiency, notes Melissa Gray, director of sustainability at Rackspace.

The survey questioned randomly selected companies on the importance of sustainability over cost. Of the 2,000 companies selected for the survey, 232 responded. The respondent companies came from 24 countries including the US, UK, New Zealand, Australia and Brazil.

With environmental stewardship leading the definition of sustainability, 26% of respondents indicated that cost outweighs environmental factors when purchasing products and services; 54% said when two purchasing choices are equal (including cost), the greener product or service is better. Some 20% said when two purchasing choices are not equal, greener is better; 17% of the companies said that sustainability is a regular or standard part of their request for information, proposal or quote system; and 59% of companies said they consider sustainability periodically for specific types of purchases.

Source: www.environmentalleader.com