The Scope 3 Podcast returns with the second of our Climate Week NYC specials – this time with a chance for Ollie, Tom and Dexter to work out what, exactly, they learned from a frantic few days in New York.

At the centre of this episode is procurement – and the increasingly important role it has to play in turning Scope 3 ambitions into actual commercial decisions.

Ollie sits down with Erik Roberts, Chief Purchasing Officer at Procter & Gamble, to talk about why Scope 3 has become part of the modern CPO mandate, why sustainability needs to work alongside cost, performance, risk and resilience, and why innovators need to move beyond the dreaded “green premium”. Erik also explains how investments originally made with sustainability in mind can suddenly become extremely valuable when supply chains are disrupted.

Back in the studio – sort of – the conversation turns to what Climate Week actually felt like this year. Dexter describes a week dominated by AI and a slightly “befuddling” tidal wave of new information, tools and possibilities, while Ollie reflects on what the Peer Group is learning from hundreds of suppliers ahead of the Value Exchange Summit. One message comes through particularly strongly: suppliers are being asked to decarbonise, but many still believe purchasing decisions ultimately come back to price.

Tom also catches up with Martin Chilcott, whose new book Get Sh*t Done: Real Lessons from the Superheroes Decarbonizing Global Supply Chains launched during Climate Week. Martin explains why measuring and reporting carbon isn't enough, why procurement cannot solve Scope 3 alone, and why carbon ultimately needs to become part of the commercial transaction between buyer and supplier.

Plus: supplier surveys, specifications, AI, resilience, internal governance, Climate Week FOMO and the emerging realisation that perhaps, before we can get sh*t done, we need to get our sh*t together.

Ollie, Tom and Dexter are in New York for what promises to be a hugely important Climate Week.

Join us for chatter, analysis and insight from what we've seen and heard so far, including the goings on at the PACT Summit where we catch up with Strategy Director, Aneta Wierzynska; Grant Sprick, VP of Environment and Climate, Ahold Delhaise; and Andrea Brown , CSO from LYB.

Elsewhere, Tom caught up with the brilliant Sam Stark, CEO and founder of Green Project Technologies, a company that has been making big moves this year.

As Ollie mentions towards the end of the episode, don't forget to get involved in the Peer Group's efforts to accelerate cost-effective, lower-carbon sourcing across key materials. We want to know what you need. Which lower-carbon materials are you trying to get hold of? Which initiatives or buyer groups have you already tried? Are they actually helping? And where are the biggest gaps? We’ve put together a very ⁠short survey to map demand across the Peer Group and understand where there might be opportunities to act together.

What does it take to decarbonise an industry where emissions are embedded in everything from complex global supply chains to the equipment, chemicals and consumables used every day in the lab?

In this episode of The Scope 3 Podcast, Ollie talks to Jen Valsler from AstraZeneca about the realities of driving emissions reductions through a huge and complex pharmaceutical value chain, including the role suppliers have to play and what it takes to turn corporate ambition into practical action.

Then, Tom is joined by James Connelly, CEO of My Green Lab to widen the lens. They explore why laboratories present such an interesting decarbonisation challenge, how purchasing decisions can begin to shift an entire market, and whether greater collaboration between scientists, procurement teams, suppliers and manufacturers can create change at a scale no single company could achieve alone.

Two conversations from different parts of the life sciences ecosystem, connected by one big question: how do you move from measuring the footprint to actually changing the system that creates it?