Advancing Green Public Procurement in South Africa

This report analyzes the potential for South Africa to use its public procurement spending, which represents approximately 15% of its GDP, to address environmental issues such as carbon emissions, pollution, and water scarcity.

• South Africa's public procurement spending accounts for roughly 15% of its GDP, offering a significant opportunity to tackle environmental challenges. While there is no dedicated national legislation for green public procurement (GPP), current regulations permit the inclusion of environmental factors in procurement processes.
• Local implementations in the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape government demonstrate that GPP can successfully reduce waste generation, energy consumption, and water use.
• The mainstreaming of GPP in South Africa is obstructed by several factors: a focus on social objectives and economic efficiency, legislative gaps, limited practitioner knowledge, financial constraints, poor monitoring systems, and a lack of market readiness among smaller firms.
• To advance GPP, the report recommends five strategic actions: embedding GPP into legislation and a national action plan, creating a centralized knowledge platform for training, integrating GPP into budget planning and international support, establishing a monitoring and evaluation system, and supporting small companies to improve market readiness.

APA

Bechauf,, S. E. (2025). Advancing Green Public Procurement in South Africa. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/green-public-procurement-south-africa

Chicago

Bechauf,, Sharmila Erizaputri,Ronja. Advancing Green Public Procurement in South Africa. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2025. https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/green-public-procurement-south-africa.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Bechauf, |first1=Sharmila Erizaputri,Ronja |title=Advancing Green Public Procurement in South Africa |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=24 February 2025 |url=https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/green-public-procurement-south-africa |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{bechauf2025advancing, author = {Bechauf,, Sharmila Erizaputri,Ronja}, title = {{Advancing Green Public Procurement in South Africa}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2025}, month = feb, url = {https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/green-public-procurement-south-africa}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }