Building Accountability and transparency in public procurement

The document advocates for sustainable public procurement (SPP) as a means for governments to lead by example in sustainable development. It highlights that SPP can drive innovation, create market demand for green technologies, and achieve long-term value for money through whole-life costing. IISD supports these goals by conducting national preparedness assessments and researching life-cycle costing standards to overcome the barrier of higher initial capital costs.

• Sustainable public procurement (SPP) involves integrating economic, social, and environmental risks into procurement processes to achieve "value for money" across the entire life-cycle of a product or service.
• SPP provides incentives for the innovation and commercialization of green and social products, supporting markets for environmental services and technologies that are growing by an average of 9–17 per cent annually.
• Public sector demand for sustainable agricultural produce, sustainable timber, and energy-efficient ICT equipment in Austria, Germany, Canada, and the USA is believed to have increased related market shares by more than 25 per cent.
• A primary barrier to SPP is the difficulty of justifying higher initial capital spending; this can be addressed through whole-life costing, which shows that higher upfront costs can be offset by lower operating costs over the product's life.
• IISD has conducted SPP preparedness assessments in South Africa, India, and Chile to evaluate market and institutional readiness, identify drivers and obstacles, and determine feasible pilot initiatives.

APA

International Institute for Sustainable Development (2008). Building Accountability and transparency in public procurement. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/building_transparency_procurement.pdf

Chicago

International Institute for Sustainable Development. Building Accountability and transparency in public procurement. 2008. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/building_transparency_procurement.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=International Institute for Sustainable Development |title=Building Accountability and transparency in public procurement |date=2008 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/building_transparency_procurement.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{internationalinstituteforsustainabledevelopment2008building, author = {{International Institute for Sustainable Development}}, title = {{Building Accountability and transparency in public procurement}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2008}, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/building_transparency_procurement.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }