Measuring the Benefits of Green Public Procurement in Canada

The report finds that Green Public Procurement (GPP) in Canada provides significant benefits over business-as-usual (BAU) scenarios, particularly in reducing operating costs and greenhouse gas emissions. By 2035, sustainable procurement for buildings and vehicles could save nearly CAD 2 billion annually in operating costs. While a 'sustainable plus domestic' scenario for steel and cement increases production costs due to the replacement of imports, it generates higher domestic revenue and employment. The report concludes that GPP reduces total emissions and provides substantial savings when measured by the social cost of carbon.

• Implementing a sustainable scenario for public buildings, including retrofits and new construction, reduces total costs by 3% and energy consumption by 6% by 2035 compared to the business-as-usual (BAU) scenario.
• The 'sustainable plus domestic' scenario for cement and steel production increases domestic revenue and employment by 2035, with the steel sector seeing a 20% increase in both compared to other scenarios because it replaces a significant share of imports.
• For public vehicles, transitioning to hybrid and electric models (light and dark green scenarios) reduces total costs by 32% compared to BAU by 2035, primarily through reduced fuel expenditures.
• The 'sustainable plus domestic' scenario is the most effective at reducing total greenhouse gas emissions, resulting in 4,679,798 million tonnes fewer emissions in 2035 than the BAU scenario.
• Using the social cost of carbon (SCC) to estimate financial savings, the sustainable plus domestic scenario provides the highest savings, reaching CAD 278 million by 2035.
• While sustainable procurement reduces operating costs for buildings and vehicles by nearly CAD 2 billion per year by 2035, the 'sustainable plus domestic' scenario for materials has the highest production costs (CAD 3.6 billion) due to the cost of replacing imported steel.

APA

Bassi, A. M., & McDougal, K. (2019). Measuring the Benefits of Green Public Procurement in Canada. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/measuring-benefits-gpp-canada.pdf

Chicago

Bassi, Andrea M., and Kieran McDougal. Measuring the Benefits of Green Public Procurement in Canada. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2019. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/measuring-benefits-gpp-canada.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Bassi |first1=Andrea M. |last2=McDougal |first2=Kieran |title=Measuring the Benefits of Green Public Procurement in Canada |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=April 2019 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/measuring-benefits-gpp-canada.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{bassi2019measuring, author = {Bassi, Andrea M. and McDougal, Kieran}, title = {{Measuring the Benefits of Green Public Procurement in Canada}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2019}, month = apr, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/measuring-benefits-gpp-canada.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }