The present public procurement directives entered into force in 2014, allowing national authorities the flexibility to align procurement with social and environmental objectives, which is essential for the climate change and circular economy objectives of the EU.
This briefing was prepared by CEPS for the European Parliament’s Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO), and analyses the current use in public administrations of green, sustainable or innovative public procurement. The report finds that public authorities have not sufficiently taken up the possibilities to use strategic public procurement to introduce strategic public procurement. A voluntary approach has not been sufficient.
It recommends that the EU increase – in tandem with the provision of assistance and tools – the number of mandatory green procurement requirements, either through technical specifications in the sectoral directives or through delegated acts to the procurement directives. Member states should in turn professionalise public procurement authorities and establish central purchasing bodies or national competence centres, while investing training and ICT tools to mainstream strategic public procurement, in particular Green Public Procurement.
