Barriers and Enablers of Green Public Procurement

This report by the NewClimate Institute examines the potential for Green Public Procurement (GPP) to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in public buildings by replacing conventional air conditioners with Green ACs, while identifying the financial, political, and technical barriers to adoption.

• Air conditioning in public buildings significantly impacts energy use, with ACs often accounting for 50% of total electricity consumption and single-split units representing approximately 40% of total installed cooling capacity.
• Replacing a standard split AC (up to 7.4 kW) with a Green AC can result in an average annual electricity saving of approximately 1,000 kWh, representing a 28% reduction from baseline electricity consumption. This transition also offers an average annual GHG emission reduction of 1,100 kg CO2eq, which is 52% of baseline emissions.
• The primary barriers to implementing Green Public Procurement for cooling include financial obstacles—specifically high initial investment costs and a procurement focus on lowest purchase price over life cycle costs—as well as a lack of political leadership for ambitious targets and a deficiency in environmental procurement criteria.

APA

NewClimate Institute (2021). Barriers and Enablers of Green Public Procurement. http://www.newclimate.org/resources/publications/green-cooling-in-public-procurement

Chicago

NewClimate Institute. Barriers and Enablers of Green Public Procurement. 2021. http://www.newclimate.org/resources/publications/green-cooling-in-public-procurement.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=NewClimate Institute |title=Barriers and Enablers of Green Public Procurement |date=12 May 2021 |url=http://www.newclimate.org/resources/publications/green-cooling-in-public-procurement |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{newclimateinstitute2021barriers, author = {{NewClimate Institute}}, title = {{Barriers and Enablers of Green Public Procurement}}, institution = {NewClimate Institute}, year = {2021}, month = may, url = {http://www.newclimate.org/resources/publications/green-cooling-in-public-procurement}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }