As part of Columbia’s robust Campus as Lab (CAL) initiative, the Office of Sustainability hired Chou — currently pursuing an MBA at Columbia Business School with a focus on strategic management and sustainability — to explore how procurement decisions can align more closely with the University’s environmental and financial goals. Chou's internship was sponsored by the Business School through a new partnership with the Office of Sustainability that aims to offer Business School students more access to real-world sustainability work.
Sustainable procurement is increasingly recognized as a key opportunity for institutions to reduce emissions, enhance efficiency, and strengthen resilience. Supply chains often represent a significant portion of an organization’s environmental impact, and Columbia is no exception. A University-wide spend base analysis conducted in 2018 revealed that supply chain activities account for a high percentage of Columbia’s total emissions.
Working with Columbia’s Procurement Services and the vendor Fastenal, which provides custodial supplies to the University, Chou applied a sustainability framework to analyze purchasing trends and identify opportunities for improvement. The analysis focused on high-spend, high-volume consumables such as paper products, hand towels, toilet paper, cleaning products, bin liners, gloves, and ice melt.
Through the project, Columbia identified opportunities to reduce costs, consolidate product choices, and introduce more sustainable alternatives, while maintaining operational efficiency. The effort also engaged the vendor to explore new ways of improving supply chain sustainability and transparency.
“This project demonstrates how sustainability and business strategy intersect,” said Professor of Professional Practice Bruce Usher (Elizabeth B. Strickler '86 and Mark T. Gallogly '86 Faculty Co-Director of the Tamer Institute for Social Enterprise and Climate Change) of Columbia Business School. “By embedding environmental data into procurement decisions, we can make progress toward institutional goals while also driving innovation.”
“Our partnership with the Office of Sustainability provides fresh insights and analytical rigor to our day-to-day operations,” added Jeff Csoka, Director of Construction Sourcing within Columbia’s Procurement Services department. “The framework Ting-Ting developed through this project will inform future vendor engagements across campus.”
The project delivered several key outcomes:
- An engaged vendor committed to sustainability improvements
- Summarized data sets and visuals identifying high-impact opportunities
- A scalable framework to guide sustainable procurement across additional University vendors
This initiative contributes to Columbia’s Plan 2030 goals, particularly within the Responsible Materials Management section. By leveraging the expertise of students like Chou, Columbia continues to integrate sustainability into the core of its campus operations, turning learning into measurable impact.
The Office of Sustainability and Procurement Services will look to build on this project with additional CAL roles in the semesters to follow.
