Sustainability vision and strategy of the City of Ghent

The City of Ghent in Belgium chooses to use the term “short supply chain” instead of “local” when talking about its own purchases. The short supply chain is about cutting out unnecessary intermediate links that do not add value. As such, focus is shifted from a subjective definition of which suppliers are “local enough” to buy goods or services from, to a more objectively justifiable approach, where focus is on se-curing the optimum value for money, an approach that is much more in line with European procurement rules and principles. This focus allows them to reach suppliers who produce closer to home without dis-torting competition and they strive to pay a fair price to the farmer/producer.