ESG in procurement is not a cost line, for CIPS GM Paul Vos

The Chartered Institute for Procurement and Supply (CIPS) recently released its Global State of Procurement & Supply 2025. The findings show that South African procurement professionals must prioritise ESG delivery, digital upskilling and strategic influence to keep pace globally.

ESG Global sent Paul Vos, CIPS GM for Southern African, three clever questions on the drop in sustainability skills investment, ways to prioritise ESG delivery and soft skills development.

The report highlights that investment in sustainability skills has dropped for the first time in recent years, as corporate priorities shift amid tighter budgets and rising automation. How does CIPS plan to address this to ensure ESG stays top of mind for corporate South Africa?

The dip in sustainability skills investment is concerning, but not surprising given the economic pressures and competing corporate priorities we see across the region. The risk is that ESG is viewed as discretionary spend rather than a core strategic capability.

At CIPS, our responsibility is to help reposition ESG in procurement as a value driver and risk mitigator, not a cost line. We are embedding sustainability into our global standards, professional pathways, and Ethics Mark so that organisations can’t afford to treat it as optional. In South Africa, this aligns naturally with B-BBEE, localisation, and social procurement priorities. By making ESG inseparable from resilience and competitiveness, we aim to keep it at the top of the agenda even when budgets tighten.

You advise procurement professionals to “prioritise digital upskilling, strategic influence and ESG delivery, or risk being sidelined”. What are the keyways in which you are doing this, in your own role/in a personal capacity?

From a leadership perspective, I see my role as creating the environment where procurement professionals can build these capabilities. That means advocating for investment in skills, ensuring CIPS learning programmes reflect digital and ESG priorities, and positioning procurement as a profession with real strategic influence.

In practice, this involves engaging business leaders and policymakers on why digital literacy, sustainability, and influence skills are not optional extras but essential to future competitiveness. My contribution is less about technical application and more about creating the platforms, partnerships, and professional pathways that enable procurement people to acquire and apply those skills in their own organisations.

Procurement roles are often focused on hard skills. What are some of the soft skills you have had to develop during your career that you would advise procurement professionals to learn?

Global shocks – from COVID to geopolitics – have pushed procurement into the C-suite, elevating it from an operational to a strategic role. That shift demands more than technical competence; it requires the ability to influence, to lead, and to build trust at the highest levels.

The soft skills I emphasise most strongly for professionals today include:

• Strategic influence and storytelling – translating procurement’s contribution into language boards and CEOs understand.
• Adaptability – navigating volatility and shifting priorities.
• Listening and empathy – balancing diverse stakeholder needs in complex environments.
• Courage and resilience – standing firm on ethics and values when under pressure.

These are not ‘nice-to-haves’. As procurement becomes a strategic function, soft skills are what turn technical capability into leadership impact.