If nothing else, the recent United Nation’s Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen at least got sustainability on the news agenda. The problem is, that’s all it did. After 12 days of political posturing, photo shoots and demonstrations, very little of real note came out of the event.

Of course, it showed that political leaders recognise they can’t be seen to be ducking the issue – even if that’s what they continue to do.

To my mind, however, there is a glimmer of hope despite the lack of anything concrete or useful coming out of the talks. That glimmer is that it reaffirmed my belief that government action isn’t where the real battle lies. The real battle lies in corporate boardrooms and in the wallets of consumers.

Fact: consumers are far more sustainability conscious than they were even a few short years ago and spending behaviour is already turning towards responsibly sourced goods.

Fact: companies that don’t recognise this and develop their goods to meet this growing development will lose out in the long term.

And, of course, this is where procurement and supply chain has a huge part to play. Sustainable Sourcing has covered a huge number of positive stories in 2009 about how chief procurement officers have forced positive sustainable change in their companies. We come across countless stories of CPOs getting in touch with each other and sharing information, knowledge and tips on how they can improve sustainability in their supply chains.

They, at least, recognise the importance of this issue and are working hard to try and address it. So, despite the utter failure of politicians to properly address this problem of global importance, with the hard work of the corporate world, progress can still be made.