Home » Press Releases » Kristen N. Taddonio, IGSD Senior Climate and Energy Advisor, Recognized with 2021 Leadership in Sustainable Purchasing Award

Kristen N. Taddonio, IGSD Senior Climate and Energy Advisor, Recognized with 2021 Leadership in Sustainable Purchasing Award

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Portland, Oregon - The Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council (SPLC) announced today IGSD Senior Climate and Energy Advisor Kristen N. Taddonio as the winner of the Individual Leadership Category of the 2021 Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Awards. The award recognizes “an individual whose vision, leadership, and dedicated effort have been fundamental to the advancement of the sustainable purchasing movement”.

SPLC is the leading space for procurement collaboration and innovation. The organization connects purchasers, suppliers, and advocates to work across industries and roles to aggregate purchaser demand for more environmentally and socially sustainable product and service choices, produced in fair and safe working conditions. The SPLC Leadership Awards recognize purchasers and suppliers who have gone beyond the norm to drive sustainability through core procurement, for significant impact on their own organization and on the world.

“Sustainable procurement is no longer on the margins. Transformational change requires that every organization, regardless of size or sector, harness the power of its procurement to raise market demand for products and services with positive social and environmental impacts,” said Sarah O’Brien, SPLC’s CEO. “The organizations and individuals we recognize today are blazing the trail for the procurement community with strategic initiatives that drive concrete results. Kristen has been an exemplary leader in recognizing and leveraging sustainable procurement strategy to forward her organization’s mission of supporting environmentally sustainable development.”

Over the past two years, IGSD’s Kristen Taddonio worked with a multi-stakeholder group of SPLC members to develop guidance for purchasers on the adoption of requirements for climate-friendly refrigerants in all relevant contract categories. Refrigerant gases are powerful global warming contributors and can cause massive negative impacts, so this is one of the most critical climate actions procurement professionals can take. Kristen also developed a program that helps incentivize and align purchaser demand for climate-friendly refrigerants, to demonstrate the massive business potential for these alternatives to the supplier community.

The 2021 Leadership in Sustainable Procurement winners were selected by a prestigious jury from the public and private sector, and civil society, including Rex Hardaway (Emory University), Adam Rubenfield (World Bank), and Sanjay Kumar (Government of India), among others.

“It is such an honor to be recognized by the distinguished members of the jury,” said Taddonio. “Procurement professionals play a powerful role in protecting the planet. Purchasing power, put to good purpose, provides products that are better in every way: cheaper, more efficient, and more environmentally friendly. By adopting products that are energy efficient and that use climate-friendly refrigerants, the world can avoid more than 0.5°C of warming this century! I am humbled and inspired by the world that SPLC and its members do, and I thank you for helping make the world a better place.”

“Kristen is a climate and energy rock star,” said Durwood Zaelke, President of IGSD. “She always pushes the envelope to drive success, and I’m thrilled she has been recognized as part of this year’s Honorees. Bravo.”

The awards were presented in a Zoom ceremony on December 16th, which also recognized SPLC’s Strategic Program Coaching Cohort for their completion of the organization’s rigorous sustainable procurement strategy development program.

About the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council

The Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council (SPLC), founded in 2013, convenes a global community of purchasers, suppliers, advocates, and researchers to develop and propel best practices in sustainable procurement. A membership-driven non-profit, SPLC enables public and private organizations to be strategic in their sustainable purchasing for the greatest social, economic, and environmental impact. Based in Portland, OR, SPLC has over 160 active members wielding over $800 billion in annual purchasing power.