Europe’s sustainable public procurement data

The research finds that while the EU's new Public Procurement Data Space (PPDS) tracks the intent of green procurement, it currently lacks the granular data needed to measure actual environmental outcomes. A pilot study using spend-based estimation on German data shows that applying green criteria to all procurement in the construction and vehicle sectors could yield carbon savings significantly higher than those currently achieved by green-tagged contracts. The authors argue that targeted improvements to data consistency and item-level reporting would allow the PPDS to move from tracking 'boxes ticked' to measuring real-world impact.

• Current monitoring of green public procurement (GPP) in the EU, including via the Public Procurement Data Space (PPDS), focuses on institutionalization and procurement activity (outputs) rather than actual environmental outcomes such as tonnes of CO₂ avoided.
• A pilot analysis of German contract award data using spend-based estimation indicates that green-tagged construction procurement saved over 42 million kg of CO₂e, but expanding green criteria to all sampled procurement could save approximately 898 million kg CO₂e—more than 21 times the current savings.
• In the motor vehicles sector, the potential carbon savings from applying green criteria to the entire sample would be more than five times larger than the savings currently delivered by existing green-tagged contracts, assuming only battery electric vehicles are purchased under GPP.
• The analysis revealed significant data gaps in the PPDS and Tenders Electronic Daily (TED) ecosystems, specifically a lack of structured data on quantities and units, which forced the use of less precise spend-based estimation and required aggressive filtering of the dataset.
• The authors propose a phased roadmap to enable EU-wide impact monitoring: starting with short-term extension to priority sectors (e.g., computers and energy efficiency), medium-term introduction of 'beta' dashboards, and long-term integration of environmental impact indicators as core PPDS outputs.

APA

Granickas,, U. A. E. (2026). Europe’s sustainable public procurement data. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/articles/deep-dive/europes-sustainable-public-procurement-data

Chicago

Granickas,, Umrbek Allakulov,Sharmila Erizaputri,Karolis. Europe’s sustainable public procurement data. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2026. https://www.iisd.org/articles/deep-dive/europes-sustainable-public-procurement-data.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Granickas, |first1=Umrbek Allakulov,Sharmila Erizaputri,Karolis |title=Europe’s sustainable public procurement data |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=5 May 2026 |url=https://www.iisd.org/articles/deep-dive/europes-sustainable-public-procurement-data |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{granickas2026europes, author = {Granickas,, Umrbek Allakulov,Sharmila Erizaputri,Karolis}, title = {{Europe’s sustainable public procurement data}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2026}, month = may, url = {https://www.iisd.org/articles/deep-dive/europes-sustainable-public-procurement-data}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }