Criteria
Find out about voluntary criteria, green public procurement requirements in sectoral legislation and the process for setting criteria.
Good Practice Library
Library of case studies on green and socially responsible public procurement
Green Public Procurement Helpdesk
Questions? Contact the Helpdesk
What is Green Public Procurement?
Green Public Procurement (GPP) is defined in the Communication (COM -2008- 400) "Public procurement for a better environment" as "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."
While GPP is a voluntary instruments and Members States are able to determine the extent to which policies or criteria are applied, it plays a key role in the EU's efforts to boosting a resource-efficient economy.
GPP is within the framework of Strategic Public Procurement, together with Socially Responsible Public Procurement (SRPP) and Innovation Procurement. The basic concept of GPP relies on having clear, verifiable, justifiable, and ambitious environmental criteria for products and services, based on a life-cycle approach and scientific evidence base.
The European Commission (EC) has been developing voluntary GPP criteria for several product groups. Furthermore, following the adoption of the 2020 Circular Economy Action Plan, the Commission is proposing minimum mandatory GPP criteria and targets in sectoral legislation and phase in compulsory reporting to monitor its uptake.
EU Ecolabels: Labels can play a particular role in developing technical specifications and award criteria, and in verifying compliance helping public buyers to save time in accordance with Art. 43 of Directive 2014/24/EU. More information on EU Ecolabel product groups is available online.
News
Interview Katrin Stjernfeldt Jammeh
Procura+ Conference, perspectives from the Mayor of Malmö, First Vice President of ICLEI and Chair of the Procura+ Network
GPP Advisory Group meeting
The GPP AG held a meeting in January. Check out the latest news from this group.
France: clauses and criteria for your purchases
La Clause Verte, website that offers a set of clauses and criteria for several product groups.
Serbian Public Procurement Act
the Serbian National Assembly adopted amendments to the national Public Procurement Act.
Ireland: reference on Sustainable Public Procurement
The document explains key concepts of green, circular and socially responsible public procurement.
Case study of Helsinki, Finland
Procurement category: Food & catering
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Green Public Procurement Training Toolkit
Training materials on green public procurement
Framework, Publications & Projects
Find out more about publications, studies and current GPP projects
Life-cycle costing
Learn more about the Life-cycle costing tool and how it can help public buyers
Green Public Procurement Advisory Group & GPP National Action Plans
Check out the National Action Plans and the activities of the Green Public Procurement Advisory Group