Dan Christie: Bringing a passion for sustainability

January 2022 – How can supply chain management (SCM) help reduce environmental impact? Driven by an interest in sustainable solutions, Dan Christie, Category Advisor SCM at Cenovus Energy, demonstrates how SCM can play an important part in achieving our sustainability goals.

While Dan and the SCM team are mainly focused on securing the right products and services at the right price, location and time, his passion for sustainability is obvious.

“Some of my most important work is contributing towards Cenovus’s sustainability goals from an SCM perspective,” says Dan. “Whether that’s working with partners to increase Indigenous business development near our operations or promoting more inclusive workplaces by ensuring staff have access to adaptive personal protective equipment regardless of their body shape, size or gender, I’m always looking for ways to improve our sustainability practices.”

In his current role, Dan is responsible for safety, medical and emergency response contracts including sourcing, contracting and ongoing performance management. By finding efficiencies in the SCM process, he helps integrate better buying practices and new technologies in many parts of our business.

“As procurement advisors, we have to stay up to speed with emerging technologies, new vendor offerings and industry trends impacting our contract portfolios,” says Dan. “Keeping the potential impact of all of these pieces in mind, I can bring my ideas for efficiencies to life through collaboration with colleagues, business partners and suppliers.”

Dan also collaborates with teams across the business to consider the lifecycle of products and bulk purchasing of materials.

“When vendors can complete one delivery run of product compared to multiple deliveries to multiple sites, our team indirectly helps reduce emissions and environmental impacts,” says Dan. “This type of work is often hard to quantify in terms of impact, but we know these incremental improvements are foundational to sustainability leadership.”

Dan’s passion for sustainability is not restricted to his work as he is also involved in many projects in his personal time like raising money to build and race solar cars and developing a non-profit to install solar panels at charities around Calgary.

“I’m a sustainability advocate inside and outside of the workplace and have always been interested in new technologies and creative ways to support the community I live in,” explains Dan. “I believe we have an obligation to continue to find more efficient practices and to help identify what will be needed for a better future.”