The Role of Public Procurement in Deploying Sustainable Infrastructure

The document argues that sustainable public procurement is essential for deploying infrastructure that optimizes value for money (VfM) across the entire asset life cycle. It details the roles of governments, development banks, and private investors in managing environmental and social risks, and examines the legal instruments—such as UNCITRAL and EU directives—that enable the integration of sustainability into tendering. The paper also discusses the importance of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) and the use of financial incentives like green bonds and accelerated depreciation to encourage green innovation.

• Traditional public procurement often interprets value for money (VfM) as the cheapest bid, which can lead to assets that are more expensive to maintain and cause higher environmental and social impacts.
• Sustainable public procurement should be based on the total cost of ownership (TCO), which accounts for all direct and indirect costs across the asset life cycle, including financing, operation, and decommissioning.
• Governments have significant leverage to influence sustainability by specifying environmental performance in tenders or using pre-qualification criteria to ensure only bidders with sustainability expertise can participate.
• Multilateral development banks (MDBs) influence infrastructure sustainability through safeguard policies, and the 2016 World Bank reforms explicitly integrate VfM and life cycle costs into procurement principles.
• Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) and Environmental Management Plans (EMPs) are critical for identifying risks, but they are often hindered by administrative red tape and a lack of public sector expertise to monitor compliance.
• Financial incentives such as accelerated depreciation, green bonds, and grants can encourage the private sector to adopt green technologies; for example, India used 80 per cent accelerated depreciation to promote solar power.
• The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) framework is noted to fall short of the World Bank's standards by lacking an explicit commitment to "do no harm" and providing less detail on monitoring safeguards.
• Integrating sustainability into the procurement cycle requires action at every stage, most critically in the design of the Request for Proposals (RfP) and the evaluation criteria.

APA

Perera, O., Uzsoki, D., Ruete, M., & Casier, L. (2016). The Role of Public Procurement in Deploying Sustainable Infrastructure. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/role-public-procurement-deploying-sustainable-Infrastructure.pdf

Chicago

Perera, Oshani, David Uzsoki, Marina Ruete, and Liesbeth Casier. The Role of Public Procurement in Deploying Sustainable Infrastructure. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2016. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/role-public-procurement-deploying-sustainable-Infrastructure.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Perera |first1=Oshani |last2=Uzsoki |first2=David |last3=Ruete |first3=Marina |last4=Casier |first4=Liesbeth |title=The Role of Public Procurement in Deploying Sustainable Infrastructure |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=November 2016 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/role-public-procurement-deploying-sustainable-Infrastructure.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{perera2016role, author = {Perera, Oshani and Uzsoki, David and Ruete, Marina and Casier, Liesbeth}, title = {{The Role of Public Procurement in Deploying Sustainable Infrastructure}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2016}, month = nov, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/role-public-procurement-deploying-sustainable-Infrastructure.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }