"We need to push businesses to look beyond their immediate needs, to total cost of ownership"
Businesses are under increasing pressure to think more about sustainable procurement, as the Canadian government has doubled down on its commitment to transitioning to more sustainable operations with the introduction of “green” standards for procurement earlier this year, requiring all major government suppliers to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and set reduction targets.
In Her capacity as chief legal officer and corporate secretary at Pure Storage Inc., Niki Armstrong, has been working closely with Shared Services Canada – a government agency tasked with modernizing and consolidating the federal government’s information technology infrastructure – as it develops its sustainability evaluation and scoring process for procurement.
Canada’s mandate to be net zero by 2050 is a good start, Armstrong says, though she encourages businesses to do more to build sustainability into the procurement process.
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“It’s great to see that some governments and businesses are waking up,” says Armstrong. “In Canada, we have this really exciting opportunity to talk about sustainable procurement.”
Armstrong urges organizations to think about long-term solutions when they buy products or services, instead of just trying to solve a problem for today.
“We need to push businesses to look beyond their immediate needs, to total cost of ownership,” she says. “If these companies start putting some kind of consideration for sustainability and total cost of ownership into their procurement process – even if it’s just a small percentage – I think that is going to help them reach their goals.”
Not only is this good for the business, as it may result in lower costs and reduced energy emissions, but it also solves the problem on a long-term basis, Armstrong says.
In addition to managing worldwide legal affairs including litigation, IP and corporate matters for Pure Storage – a California-based data storage technology company – Armstrong also takes responsibility for ESG strategy and for the company’s corporate philanthropy arm, the Pure Good Foundation. Pure Good allows her to focus on environmental issues as well as workforce development.
“One of the things I love about Pure Storage is that from day one we have focused on sustainability, long before ESG was even an acronym,” says Armstrong, who joined the company as an employment lawyer six years ago before stepping up to the chief legal officer role in 2022. She is currently also leading the people function on an interim basis.
Sustainability has always been top of mind for Armstrong, as she strives to encourage governments and businesses to “think green.”
“In Canada we are really pushing the agenda to get governments and businesses to start adding sustainability as a weighted allocation in their procurement process, to start helping them reach their goals,” says Armstrong.
Armstrong was proud to help Pure Storage with the recent publication of its second ESG report, highlighting the sustainable nature of its products. She works closely with the company’s head of ESG strategy who joined six months ago to guide further developments.
“In this coming year we’re going to be really digging in on supply chain and sustainability across our entire value chain, to make sure we’re doing what we need to do,” said Armstrong. “We’re also calling on our vendors and manufacturers to do the same.”
Armstrong also serves on the Pure Equality Leadership Council, supporting the company in its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts as they aim to bring more diverse talent into the pipeline.
In 2024, Armstrong hopes to see further progress in sustainable procurement in Canada – and within California.
“We’ve just had some new climate disclosures passed here in California that will require us to disclose certain things. One of my goals is to get some leeway to push for sustainable procurement here as well,” she says.
“Some businesses are doing a better job than others, but we all need to get on the same boat and paddle in the same direction,” Armstong says.
