Monitoring Progress in Green Public Procurement

Public procurement is responsible for approximately 15% of worldwide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, according to recent research from the World Economic Forum. “Greening” public procurement is therefore a critical strategy to support the reduction of GHG emissions related to government activities.

In recent years, the use of GPP increased significantly. Nearly all Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries have formulated strategies or policies aimed at facilitating the integration of environmental goals into the public procurement process. To advance GPP, countries have reformed their legal and policy frameworks to enable or mandate GPP, improved the capacities of public procurers, and developed guidebooks, tools, and standard criteria for GPP. However, establishing GPP monitoring systems to track progress has often been an afterthought.

Effective GPP monitoring is key for countries to track progress toward their climate goals. For this report, we outline the importance of monitoring Green Public Procurement (GPP) and highlight the various methodologies, challenges and recommendations for improved monitoring practices. This report focuses specifically on improving the monitoring of the impact of GPP on GHG and carbon dioxide emission reductions.

An analysis of GPP practices in South Korea, Japan, Slovenia, Denmark, Malaysia, and the Netherlands reveals that successful GPP monitoring is driven by strong government support, effective collaboration, and access to necessary tools and resources. Despite these efforts, challenges such as insufficient data, knowledge constraints, and the complexity of GPP monitoring tools persist.

To address these challenges, we recommend that governments and procuring authorities

• define clear GPP objectives and targets,
• establish a legal and policy framework that mandates monitoring and establishes roles and responsibilities,
• foster effective collaboration among various governmental bodies,
• strengthen data management and control,
• invest in training and capacity building for procurement staff, and
• promote effective communication.

Implementing these recommendations will allow governments improve their efforts to monitor GPP and GPP impacts. This will, in turn provide, them with the necessary evidence to keep increasing GPP efforts and ensuring the use of public procurement as a driver of climate and sustainable development goals.