Sustainability

Green Public Procurement

Public authorities in the EU spend more than 16% of EU’s GDP – nearly 1.8 Trillion Euros – on buying goods such as office equipment and building components, and purchase services such as buildings maintenance and transport services.

Green Public Procurement (GPP) describes a process whereby public authorities seek to reduce the negative environmental impacts caused by the purchasing of goods, services and works with tax payer money. GPP avoids unnecessary purchases by reviewing the actual need for the product or service and seeking other solutions. If this is not possible, public purchasers seek to purchase a greener product or service that supplies the same (or better) quality and functionality as the conventional choice.

GPP can have many direct and indirect environmental benefits. Apart from the direct environmental gains through the purchase of greener products (e.g. less CO2 emission by purchasing electricity from renewable energies) it can be a crucial market driver and help create a critical mass of ecological products.