Advancing Green Public Procurement in South Africa

The report examines the state of green public procurement (GPP) in South Africa, noting that while the country lacks dedicated GPP legislation, the Public Procurement Act of 2024 provides a new opening for sustainable development measures. It highlights successful subnational initiatives in the Western Cape and cities like Cape Town and Tshwane, but identifies systemic barriers including a 'fear of the auditor', high perceived 'green premiums', and limited capacity among small, medium, and micro enterprises (SMMEs). The authors recommend embedding GPP into national law, creating a centralized knowledge platform, and developing a robust monitoring and evaluation framework to track environmental outcomes.

• South Africa lacks dedicated legislation for green public procurement (GPP), although the Public Procurement Act of 2024 introduces a provision allowing procuring institutions to implement "measures to advance sustainable development in procurement."
• Public procurement in South Africa represents a significant economic lever, accounting for approximately 15% of the country's GDP in 2021.
• Subnational governments have led GPP efforts, with the Western Cape Government and the City of Cape Town demonstrating feasibility through reduced water use, energy consumption, and waste generation.
• A significant barrier to GPP adoption is the 'fear of the auditor,' where government officials avoid innovative procurement to avoid risk in an environment of high anticorruption scrutiny.
• Financial barriers include the 'green premium'—the perception that sustainable products have higher upfront costs—and a procurement culture that prioritizes the lowest purchase price over total life-cycle costs.
• Small, medium, and micro enterprises (SMMEs), which make up approximately 83% of suppliers, often lack the formal certifications and resources required to meet stringent GPP criteria.
• South Africa lacks a systematic monitoring system for GPP, making it difficult to define 'green' products or track the environmental impact of spending.
• Life-cycle costing (LCC) and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) have been successfully applied in specific cases, such as the City of Tshwane's street lighting project, where LED bulbs proved more cost-effective than high-pressure sodium bulbs over time.
• The report recommends five priority intervention areas: strengthening legislative frameworks, enhancing stakeholder skills via a centralized knowledge platform, integrating GPP into budget planning, developing a monitoring system, and building SMME capacity.

APA

Erizaputri, S., & Bechauf, R. (2025). Advancing Green Public Procurement in South Africa. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2025-02/green-public-procurement-south-africa.pdf

Chicago

Erizaputri, Sharmila, and Ronja Bechauf. Advancing Green Public Procurement in South Africa. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2025. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2025-02/green-public-procurement-south-africa.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Erizaputri |first1=Sharmila |last2=Bechauf |first2=Ronja |title=Advancing Green Public Procurement in South Africa |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=February 2025 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2025-02/green-public-procurement-south-africa.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{erizaputri2025advancing, author = {Erizaputri, Sharmila and Bechauf, Ronja}, title = {{Advancing Green Public Procurement in South Africa}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2025}, month = feb, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2025-02/green-public-procurement-south-africa.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }