Strengthening Public Procurement for Climate Action and Competitiveness

The report argues that the current EU public procurement framework, specifically Directive 2014/24/EU, fails to drive the green transition because GPP remains voluntary, leading to fragmented implementation and a prevalence of lowest-price awards. It identifies three primary challenges: a fragmented legal landscape, the voluntary nature of GPP, and perceived legal uncertainty regarding the 'link to subject matter' rule. To address these, the authors recommend making GPP the default via a 'comply-or-explain' approach, tying 'Buy European' rules to environmental performance, simplifying rules through harmonized criteria and labels, strengthening data monitoring, and investing in the professionalization of contracting authorities. The report provides detailed operational options for both simplification and strategic procurement to support the EU's 2040 emissions targets.

• The voluntary nature of GPP under Directive 2014/24/EU creates weak market signals, which discourages private sector investment in sustainable alternatives and limits the transformative potential of public spending.
• Legal uncertainty, particularly the 'link to subject matter' rule, restricts the use of broader sustainability criteria that target general supplier practices rather than just the specific product or service being purchased.
• The EU's procurement landscape is fragmented due to differing national transpositions of directives and overlapping, often weakly enforced, requirements from various sectoral legislations.
• Mandating green criteria for steel and cement in public construction could significantly reduce emissions, as these materials account for 13.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions and are used in large volumes in public projects.
• The report recommends a 'comply-or-explain' approach to make GPP the default, requiring contracting authorities to justify any exceptions where environmental criteria are not applied.
• To ensure 'Buy European' or minimum EU content rules contribute to climate goals, they should be tied to environmental performance and sustainability criteria rather than geographic origin alone.
• Professionalization of contracting authorities is critical, as many currently lack the skills to apply life-cycle costing (LCC) and strategic GPP, leading to risk-aversion and fear of litigation.
• Current monitoring is insufficient because GPP fields in eForms are voluntary and data collection is limited to contracts above EU thresholds, hindering the ability to track actual environmental outcomes.
• Evidence from member states like Lithuania and Italy shows that embedding sustainability as a mandatory norm can rapidly increase the share of green tenders and make circular practices routine.

APA

Bechauf, R., Erizaputri, S., & Casier, L. (2025). Strengthening Public Procurement for Climate Action and Competitiveness. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2025-11/reform-options-eu-public-procurement.pdf

Chicago

Bechauf, Ronja, Sharmila Erizaputri, and Liesbeth Casier. Strengthening Public Procurement for Climate Action and Competitiveness. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2025. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2025-11/reform-options-eu-public-procurement.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Bechauf |first1=Ronja |last2=Erizaputri |first2=Sharmila |last3=Casier |first3=Liesbeth |title=Strengthening Public Procurement for Climate Action and Competitiveness |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=December 2025 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2025-11/reform-options-eu-public-procurement.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{bechauf2025strengthening, author = {Bechauf, Ronja and Erizaputri, Sharmila and Casier, Liesbeth}, title = {{Strengthening Public Procurement for Climate Action and Competitiveness}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2025}, month = dec, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2025-11/reform-options-eu-public-procurement.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }