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The practice of green public procurement (GPP) is mostly voluntary in Sweden and the Netherlands. While a patchwork of targets and tools exist to support procurers, interviewees say that standardization of GPP rules, as well as added capacity and resources, would help increase the uptake of more environmentally friendly actions in the road and construction sectors.
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Government spending on public works, goods and services accounts for about 14% of the EU’s GDP. Consequently, the EU and its Member States can help accelerate the development and adoption of low-carbon technologies through green public procurement (GPP).
Funded by Breakthrough Energy, this brief is part of a larger project comparing GPP uptake in different EU Member States and identifying key barriers to greater adoption, as well as opportunities ahead. Ultimately, the project’s goal is to contribute to greater policy coherence among Member States to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as well as to increase policy support for GPP implementation and harmonized GPP target-setting. This brief studies the cases of Sweden and the Netherlands.
Here, researchers highlight the construction and road transport sectors because of their high share of both GHG emissions and total government procurements. This highlights the large mitigation potential procurers can support by including environmental criteria in their purchasing.
Project / This project uses case studies to generate lessons learned and foster stronger Green Public Procurement policy in EU member states.
SEI brief / Challenges and opportunities for sustainability interventions in the construction sector value chains and policy recommendations to address them.
SEI report / This report provides a coherent picture of SEI-wide engagement on the circular economy and offers future directions for the research agenda.
Other publication / Green public procurement can accelerate emissions reductions. This paper provides an overview of policy design and target-setting methodologies.
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