Green Public Procurement - Who buys, decides. Help us bring circularity into public contracts.
The public sector in the EU buys goods and services worth roughly 14 % of GDP. Yet in 95 % of contracts, price alone decides, and the circular economy appeared among the criteria in only 2.4 % of them (data from 2018 to 2020). We want quality and circularity criteria to become a normal part of procurement. Help us push for them.
The public sector is a huge customer for companies in Europe. European states and municipalities spend over two trillion euros on goods and services every year, around 14 % of EU GDP. When a contracting authority competes only on the lowest price, nobody has a reason to invest in better and more sustainable solutions. And that is how most contracts are awarded. According to data from 2018 to 2020, price was the only criterion in 95 % of contracts, and for construction works, price alone decided in 73 % of cases. The circular economy was a criterion in 2.4 % of contracts.
It can be done differently. Prague is renovating the Prager Cubes for 1.4 billion CZK, and it brought circularity into the project only through an amendment to a signed contract. Even so, according to preliminary figures, about 60 % of the movable property will be reused. Imagine what would be possible if circularity had been part of the tender from the start.
We want there to be dozens of examples like this. The Czech Public Procurement Act already allows quality and life cycle criteria, but contracting authorities lack the materials and the confidence to use them. That is why, together with partners from across Europe, we produced the study Green Public Procurement as a Strategic Tool for Industrial Transformation in the EU, which led to a guide in eight steps for contracting authorities. We are part of the BBBB coalition, which brings together representatives of the construction sector, civil society and public administration. It wants GPP in Europe to have unified criteria and to reward best value, not just the lowest price. According to the coalition, unified criteria for concrete and steel could cut a quarter of the emissions linked to public construction in the EU.
Read more in our article: Contracts for a better future
Your gift will go towards:
- materials and methodologies that help contracting authorities apply circular criteria in practice
- further studies on what the criteria bring and what they cost
- awareness and training for contracting authorities, so they know how to do it
- promoting circular criteria in legislation and in the decisions of contracting authorities
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