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European Journal of Applied Sciences – Vol. 10, No. 5
Publication Date: October 25, 2022
DOI:10.14738/aivp.105.12703. Karnavos, D., Mitoula, R., Tragaki, A., & Apostolopoulos, C. (2022). A Review of Green Public Procurement in the EU. European
Journal of Applied Sciences, 10(5). 122-128.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
A Review of Green Public Procurement in the EU
Dimitrios Karnavos
Ph. D Candidate, Harokopio University, School of
Environment Geography and Applied Economics
Department of Economics and Sustainable Development, Greece
Roido Mitoula
Professor, Harokopio University, School of
Environment Geography and Applied Economics
Department of Economics and Sustainable Development, Greece
Alexandra Tragaki
Professor, Harokopio University, School of
Environment Geography and Applied Economics
Department of Geography, Greece
Constantinos Apostolopoulos
Professor, Harokopio University, School of
Environment Geography and Applied Economics
Department of Economics and Sustainable Development, Greece
ABSTRACT
Public authorities are major consumers in Europe. Each year they spend
approximately 2 trillion euros, equivalent to some 19% of the EU’s Gross Domestic
Product on the purchase of goods, such as office equipment, building components
and transport vehicles; services, such as buildings maintenance, transport services,
cleaning and catering services and works. By promoting and using "Green Public
Procurement (GPP)" public authorities can drive the market to greener products
and services, achieving an important reduction of the environmental impacts.
Within the EU public procurement is subject to a number of sources of Community
law. In addition, there are common criteria for the adoption of Green Public
Procurement in specific sectors (i.e. copying and graphic paper, office IT equipment,
cleaning products and services, transport, construction, etc.) and a number of
sources of interpretation of the relevant laws and principles (i.e. the "Buying Green
handbook"). On the review of GPP the work team firstly analyzed the EU strategic
policy, and then chose a series of examples to evaluate the implementation of GPP,
illustrate how public authorities have made greener purchasing a reality and
provide guidance to others. The evaluation included some of the most interesting
case studies related to different countries (i.e. Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden,
Malta, Austria, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Latvia, France, UK,
Germany, Greece, Finland, etc.) and collected by European Commission over the
years. According to the results of the evaluation the benefits associated with GPP
are not limited only to environmental impact, but can include everything from
social and health to economic and political benefits. Today even if the concept of
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Karnavos, D., Mitoula, R., Tragaki, A., & Apostolopoulos, C. (2022). A Review of Green Public Procurement in the EU. European Journal of Applied
Sciences, 10(5). 122-128.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/aivp.105.12703
GPP has been widely recognised as a useful tool, it remains a voluntary instrument.
Member States should be encouraged to draw up Action Plans for greening their
public procurement. Among other, the coming years should be a growing political
commitment at national, EU and international level.
Keywords: Public Authorities; Green Public Procurement; GPP criteria; Sustainable
consumption and production.
INTRODUCTION
Public authorities are major consumers in Europe. Each year they spend approximately 2
trillion euros, equivalent to some 19% of the EU’s Gross Domestic Product on the purchase of
goods, such as office equipment, building components and transport vehicles; services, such as
buildings maintenance, transport services, cleaning and catering services and works.
By promoting and using «Green Public Procurement (GPP)» public authorities can drive the
market to greener products and services, achieving an important reduction of the
environmental impacts. As moreover is defined GPP is a process whereby public authorities
seek to procure goods, services and works with a reduced environmental impact throughout
their life cycle when compared to goods, services and works with the same primary function
that would otherwise be procured.
Although the benefits of GPP are great, it remains a voluntary instrument so far. Each Member
State and public authority can determine the extent to which they implement it. On the other
hand, Member States should draw up Action Plans for greening their public procurement and
work so that the concept of GPP is recognised as a useful tool.
Recently also recognized increasingly that using the purchasing power of the GPP Member
States can choose environmentally friendly goods, services and works, and make sure that tax
payers’ money is used effectively to ensure direct environmental benefits and reduce negative
environmental impacts. In addition, by promoting GPP Member States can also create many
indirect environmental benefits and be better equipped to meet evolving environmental
challenges, as well as political and binding targets for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions,
energy efficiency and in other environmental policies.
THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND OTHER STRATEGIES OF GPP IN EU
GPP has been endorsed in a number of EU policies and strategies, reflecting its recognised
potential to encourage a more sustainable use of natural resources, establish behavioural
changes for sustainable consumption and production, and drive innovation. A brief list of these
policies/ strategies is finding below:
o Directive 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February
2014 on public procurement and repealing Directive 2004/18/EC Text with EEA
relevance.
o Directive 2014/25/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February
2014 on procurement by entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal
services sectors and repealing Directive 2004/17/EC Text with EEA relevance.
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o Directive 2009/33/EC on the promotion of clean and energy-efficient road transport
vehicles.
o Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources.
o Regulation (EC) No 1177/2009 amending Directives 2004/17/EC, 2004/18/EC and
2009/81/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council in respect of their
application thresholds for the procedures for the award of contracts.
o Directive 2008/98/EC on waste (Waste Framework Directive).
o Directive 2005/32/EC for establishing a framework for the setting of ecodesign
requirements for energy-using products.
o Directive 2003/87/EC for establishing a scheme for greenhouse gas emission
allowance trading within the Community.
o Directive 2002/96/EC on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) (currently
being recast).
o Directive 2002/95/EC on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in
electrical and electronic equipment (RoHS) (currently under revision).
o Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
o Europe 2020. The EU’s strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, highlights
GPP as one of the measures in achieving such growth.
o Handbook on green public procurement – 2nd edition, 2011. The handbook is a
concrete tool to help public authorities to buy goods and services with a lower
environmental impact. It is also a useful reference for policy makers and businesses
responding to green tenders.
o Public procurement for a better environment COM (2008) 400.
o Staff Working Document accompanying COM (2008) 400 SEC (2008) 2126.
o Action Plan for Sustainable Consumption and Production and Sustainable Industrial
Policy (SCP/SIP) COM (2008) 397.
o Pre-commercial Procurement: Driving innovation to ensure sustainable high quality
public services in Europe COM (2007) 799.
o Interpretative Communication on the Community law applicable to contract awards
not or not fully subject to the provisions of the Public Procurement Directives 2006/C
179/2.
Following the above it is worth mentioning that in Greece the initial procurement Directives
transposed into national law by the following Presidential Decrees: P.D. 60/2007 (Government
Gazette 64 A’) and P.D. 59/2007 (Government Gazette 63 A’). The concept of GPP also included
in article 18 of the national Law 3855/2010 (Government Gazette 95 A’).
EU GPP CRITERIA
To assist contracting authorities in identifying and procuring greener products, services and
works, EU developed environmental procurement criteria for product and service groups,
which can be directly inserted into tender documents. These criteria address 10 key product
and service groups: copying and graphic paper; cleaning products and services; office IT
equipment; construction; transport; furniture; electricity; food and catering services; textiles;
gardening products and services.
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Karnavos, D., Mitoula, R., Tragaki, A., & Apostolopoulos, C. (2022). A Review of Green Public Procurement in the EU. European Journal of Applied
Sciences, 10(5). 122-128.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/aivp.105.12703
In July 2010 the European Commission resulted in 9 additional criteria (second set of common
GPP criteria) for the following categories: windows, glazed doors and skylights; thermal
insulation; hard floor-coverings; wall panels; combine heat and power (CHP); road construction
and traffic signs; street lighting and traffic signals; mobile phones indoor lighting.
It is important to note that the above criteria are regularly reviewed and updated to take into
account the latest scientific product data, new technologies, market developments and changes
in legislation.
REVIEW OF THE BENEFITS OF GPP
Based on the review of the existing bibliography a brief overview of the most important benefits
of GPP is presented below. These benefits come from the most interesting examples (64 GPP
examples) collected over the years related to the implementation of GPP throughout different
Member States. More specifically:
o Ten municipalities of the Dutch region Rivierenland (215.000 inhabitants) renew their
contracts for the supply of electricity. The municipalities buy now “green” electricity,
based on specific renewable energy sources: hydropower, wind, and biomass. The
Rivierland region purchases 12.5 GWh per year, and result in around 5,500 tonnes
savings of CO2 emissions, equivalent to the annual emissions of 600 EU citizens.
o In 2005, the city of Esbjerg wanted to purchase cleaning products. Esbjerg asked for
cleaning products that meet the underlying environmental specifications of recognized
ecolabelled products. The public procurement Directives explicitly allow this by putting
the ecolabel criteria in the technical specifications. Most of the received offers proposed
cleaning products labelled with one of the ecolabels (EU Ecolabel, Scandinavian “Swan”,
German "Blauer Engel" or Swedish "Bra Miljöval"). Now the cleaning products don’t
have serious effects on the environment. Negative impacts have been reduced by
excluding certain hazardous substances from the products and by minimizing the
amount of products/chemicals used in carrying out cleaning services.
o Malmö’s schools participated in a pilot project (2004-2007) whose purpose was to
serve 100% organic food in school restaurants. The future goal was to serve 100%
organic food in all of its public catering services by 2020. By the end of the pilot project
(in 2007), 97% of food purchased by schools was organic. Although there were often
price premiums for organic food items, the new restaurant menus made it possible to
purchase organic food with largely unchanged budgets. It is important to note that the
City of Malmö’s Service Division and Environment Department, calculated and
measured the impact on greenhouse gas emissions from different menus. It was
difficult to measure carbon dioxide emissions generated from transporting food.
However, reducing the amount of meat served, in combination with serving vegetables
not grown in heated greenhouses, was found to be the most environmentally preferable
approach to adopt.
o In 2008, an architectural competition was carried out for considering sustainability
criteria in the planning and the construction of the Vienna North Hospital. The criteria
used included: protecting/restoring areas of unspoiled nature; building structures as
part of the landscape; use of potable water and rainwater; good transportation
connections; thermal comfort; indoor air quality; flexibility of use; accessibility; user
control (ventilation, shading, lighting); minimizing overall energy demand; facilitating
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energy management (meters); ecological energy (district heating and cooling;
photovoltaic and renewable sources); environmental protection on site; reducing
waste, dust, noise and vibrations, etc. By considering these sustainability criteria, the
construction and use of the Vienna North Hospital were responsible for the reduction
of the EU’s CO2 emissions and the use of natural resources.
o The City of Barcelona has increasingly included sustainability considerations in its
purchasing practices since 2001. These practices have been driven by and form a part
of the City’s Local Agenda 21 policy and goals. According to Barcelona’s Timber Policy
(from 2004), timber must originate from forests that have sustainable forest
management procedures in place, such as preservation of biodiversity, control of tree
diameters and harvest control. These requirements were applied in the Award stage
but could also be included as Technical Specifications. According to the information
received from the different municipal departments, the main impacts on forests – such
as biodiversity and ecosystems, but also on local communities - were curtailed.
o In 2009 the decision was taken in Ljubljana to completely change the entire city fleet in
order to rationalize its management. The idea was to sell all cars belonging to the
current fleet and take 60 cars on operational leasing for five years instead. A target was
set for at least 10% of these vehicles to be hybrids. Due to the very specific tender
conditions involving the purchase and lease of vehicles, only two suppliers met the
specified demands. At that time only two hybrid vehicles of the type required were
available on the market. The choice of Toyota Prius was based on compliance with the
specification and the award criteria. The new hybrid cars reduce the environmental
impact associated with fossil fuel consumption. So there is a corresponding reduction
in CO2 and particulate matter emissions.
o In 2009, the Ministry of Environment and Water (MEW) of Bulgaria announced its
intention to award a fully green public contract. Paper was chosen as a product group
suitable for greening due to its clear environmental impact and the possibility of
switching to greener alternatives without increasing purchase costs. Sustainability
criteria were used (i.e. 100% recycled copy paper, at least elemental chlorine-free
(ECF) bleached or totally chlorine free (TCF) bleached, etc.). Apart from the
environmental benefits, the public contract awarded for supply of recycled paper
entailed financial benefits. The Ministry conducted a pre-procurement analysis of
market prices of recycled and non-recycled paper for printers which revealed that
comparable prices applied, and the recycled paper met the required technical
characteristics.
o In 2008 Dunkerque (France) established a framework agreement for the purchase of
IT equipment and software. One of the lots tendered was for the supply of desktop
computers, laptops, workstations and monitors. According to the technical
specifications all equipment should meet the criteria of the Energy Star label (4.0); flat
screens laptops, workstations and monitors. According to the technical specifications
all equipment should meet the requirements of TCO 99 03 or equivalent; all equipment
laptops, workstations and monitors. According to the technical specifications all
equipment should meet the standards set out in Directives 2002/95/EC (on the
restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic
equipment) and 2002/96/EC (on waste electrical and electronic equipment).