Green Public Procurement

The document examines the gap between EU Green Public Procurement (GPP) targets and actual implementation in eight Member States. It identifies systemic barriers—including fragmented governance, lack of standardized data, and limited procurement officer capacity—while highlighting successful local and national initiatives in Sweden, France, Germany, and others. The brief argues that the EU must harmonize reporting, institute mandatory requirements for high-emitting sectors, and provide better technical support to leverage public spending for climate goals.

• Public procurement represents a significant economic lever in the EU, with government spending on works, goods, and services accounting for approximately 15% of GDP in 2020. In the eight case study countries, this share ranged from 11% to 20% of GDP.
• Implementation of GPP has been slow and fails to meet the European Commission's 2008 target of having half of all public tendering procedures meet core EU GPP criteria by 2010. The document notes that Member States have generally failed to meet their own GPP plans and targets.
• The construction and road transport sectors are identified as critical for GPP due to their high emissions; road transport accounted for over 70% of transport emissions in 2019, and building materials contain 20% to 25% of the life cycle emissions of the EU's building stock.
• Governance of GPP is often fragmented, with responsibilities split between finance and environment ministries. In decentralized systems like Germany and Spain, this creates a fragmented policy landscape with significant regional differences.
• There is a lack of consistency in how 'green' procurement is defined and monitored. While the EU Commission requires all core GPP criteria to be met, some Member States count a tender as GPP if only one environmental criterion is used.
• Procurement officers face several practical barriers to GPP adoption, including a lack of time for market research, insufficient information on green alternatives, and a fear of litigation from unsuccessful bidders.
• Specific best practices include Sweden's requirement for climate declarations for all new buildings and carbon footprint calculations for road projects over €5 million. Berlin reported a 47% reduction in GHG emissions by applying environmental considerations to 15 product groups.

APA

Axelsson, K., Piirsalu, E., Nilsson, A., Kaaret, L. K., & Morales, E. T. (2023). Green Public Procurement. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/green-procurement-european-greenhouse-emissions.pdf

Chicago

Axelsson, Katarina, Evelin Piirsalu, Astrid Nilsson, Lewis Kaidi Kaaret, and Eileen Torres Morales. Green Public Procurement. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2023. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/green-procurement-european-greenhouse-emissions.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Axelsson |first1=Katarina |last2=Piirsalu |first2=Evelin |last3=Nilsson |first3=Astrid |last4=Kaaret |first4=Lewis Kaidi |last5=Morales |first5=Eileen Torres |title=Green Public Procurement |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=February 2023 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/green-procurement-european-greenhouse-emissions.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{axelsson2023green, author = {Axelsson, Katarina and Piirsalu, Evelin and Nilsson, Astrid and Kaaret, Lewis Kaidi and Morales, Eileen Torres}, title = {{Green Public Procurement}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2023}, month = feb, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/green-procurement-european-greenhouse-emissions.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }