Green and sustainable public procurement

Sustainable public procurement (SPP) attempts to balance economic, social and environmental concerns in a sustainable manner. According to UNEP:

"Sustainable Procurement seeks to achieve the appropriate balance between the three pillars of sustainable development i.e. economic, social and environmental.

- Economic factors include the costs of products and services over their entire life cycle, such as: acquisition, maintenance, operations and end-of-life management costs (including waste disposal) in line with good financial management;
- Social factors include social justice and equity; safety and security; human rights and employment conditions;
- Environmental factors include emissions to air, land and water, climate change, biodiversity, natural resource use and water scarcity over the whole product life cycle."

Recent news items on this website from the Philippines and Ireland have demonstrated the focus on 'buying green' - a topic that is increasingly visible. Moreover, efforts are underway such as in Scotland to better understand the social and community impacts of public procurement.

As public procurement can account for as much as 15-25% of GDP, Governments across the globe has significant leverage for promoting social, economic or environmental aims:

"The scale of the public procurement market can encourage the development of new, innovative products by generating sustained demand to ensure that a sufficient number of public purchases cover the costs of needed innovation. Stimulating demand through mandating the application of new "green" standards in public purchases and aggregating demand (and tendering) through a central purchasing body, for example, presents opportunities that would be otherwise absent if left to smaller, discreet procurement authorities or exclusively to private sector-led demand growth (ADB)."

It would be great to hear of experiences with SPP initiatives from other users of this forum. What are the pitfalls, the challenges and the rewards of implementing SPP?

Sustainable Public Procurement and Rio+20.

Rio+20:- What are the opportunities to promote Sustainable Public Procurement as a driver of change for a green economy?

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) will take place in Brazil on 20-22 June 2012 to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), in Rio de Janeiro.

The objective of the Conference is to secure renewed political commitment for sustainable development, assess the progress to date and the remaining gaps in the implementation of the outcomes of the major summits on sustainable development, and address new and emerging challenges. Sustainable Public Procurement has to date been an underused policy tool for the practical realization of the holistic concepts of UNCED and the current debates in preparation of Rio+20.

The Rio+20 conference will focus on two themes: (a) a green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication; and (b) the institutional framework for sustainable development.

Sustainable development emphasizes a holistic, equitable and far-sighted approach to decision-making at all levels. It emphasizes not just strong economic performance but intragenerational and intergenerational equity. It rests on integration and a balanced consideration of social, economic and environmental goals and objectives in both public and private decision-making

There are already examples that can inform and develop the knowledge of how to achieve initiate and promote Sustainable Public Procurement. The UNCSD Secretariat (2010) Questionnaire for the Member States on the Objective and Themes of UNCSD, identified that in 2009, the Finnish government passed a resolution that encourages all public actors to adopt sustainable procurement – the central government, regional governments and the municipal sector.

The Finnish government set in April 2009 targets (a government resolution) that encourage all public actors to adopt sustainable procurement – the central government, regional governments and the municipal sector. The target for central government is to have 70 % procurement sustainable by 2010 and 100 % by 2015. For the municipalities and local state government the targets are 25 % by 2010 and 50 % by 2015.

It would be really helpful to better understand how to ensure that Sustainable Public Procurement responds to demand by selecting the best ecological and economical alternative. Together with measures  that can be adopted by those responsible for public procurement, particularly in the areas of energy, construction and housing, transport, food services, and medical services.

It would be great to hear of more examples and to develop further discussion on Sustainable Procurement in the build up to Rio+20.

PCDC and UNEP has just published a new briefing note on SPP. Read the document here.

Among other issues, the document looks at the potential benefits of SPP and looks at experiences with SPP initiatives globally.

Comments on the paper in particular, or regarding SPP and GPP in general, are welcome!

Sustainable Public Procurement

The discussion brief on Sustainable Public Procurement, promotes the integration of the three components of sustainable development; 1) economic development; 2) social development; and 3) environmental protection.

The brief provides a definition of Sustainable Procurement;

“Is a process whereby organizations meet their needs for goods, services, works and utilities in a way that achieves value for money on a whole life basis in terms of generating benefits not only to the organization, but also to society and the economy whilst minimizing damage to the environment.” Defra (2006), UK Sustainable Procurement Task Force.

 The brief identifies a number of obstacles to SPP and provides some approaches and key reference material. There is an emerging body of knowledge on SPP which can inform the way forward. One example is a Sustainable Public Procurement Manual produced by the Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment. This provides some practical guidance on how integrate the three components required for SPP including:

• Market reviews or consultations must also include the identification of what the market has to

offer in terms of sustainability and the associated costs.

• Sustainability criteria must be incorporated into call for tender documents and contracts.

• Suppliers, contractors or service providers must be selected who comply with certain

sustainability criteria.

• Suppliers, contractors or service providers must be verified to ensure they comply with the agreed upon sustainability aspects in actual practice.

 Do you have suggestions on how to approach this and/or examples that you can share?

Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) can in fact be considered an underused policy tool for the practical realization of the concept of sustainable development. This is particularly the case in developing countries where only few nations have a government-wide overarching strategy on sustainable procurement.

The “Sustainable Public Procurement: Briefing Note” recently published on the UNPCDC website introduces the concept of SPP. It structures and summarizes information on the current state of play in SPP and also outlines UNEP’s SPP Approach, a methodology increasingly used by a number of emerging markets and developing countries such as Chile, Costa Rica, Colombia, Uruguay, Tunisia, Mauritius and Lebanon. The brief includes a list of key issues to consider, to make the public procurement process more sustainable.

SPP is not only an underused policy tool, it is also an understudied concept. The briefing note intends to stimulate a discussion on emerging good practices that could be useful for countries and public authorities currently embarking on SPP programs. The aim is also to learn more about obstacles encountered in implementing SPP and ways to overcome them. One of many questions being: What are the main actors and perspectives influencing the SPP debate in developing countries?