EUROPA - Environment - Green public procurement

How Green is your Public Procurement ?

"Green public procurement means that public purchasers take account of environmental factors when buying products, services or works".

Transport and communication services & Buses and bus services

To control transport pollution, the European Commission regulated maximum emission levels for new vehicles. These emissions are regulated by Directives 70/220/EEC (for light vehicles) and 88/77/EEC (for heavy vehicles), and by amendments to those directives. A whole series of amendments have been issued to tighten the limit values (ranging from EURO I – V, with the last one being the strictest).

For buses, the EURO IV standard has been compulsory since the end of 2005 and EURO V from the end of 2008. This latter standard also requires the use of on-board diagnostic systems (OBDs), which indicate when the emissions of the vehicle are too high, as well as an indicating light on the instrument panel showing when there is a need to repair the vehicle.

Background

Needs analysis

There are several options to fulfil the needs for buses in towns and cities:

Renting or buying buses
Providing or outsourcing such transport services

When identifying the need, the following should be taken into account:

Determine the number of buses to be acquired based on an accurate utilization analysis
Consider carefully the size of these buses (mini- and mid-sized buses are usually less polluting)

Consider “bus sharing” (among interdependent organizations: for example a local authority and its schools, hospitals etc.)

Environmental aspects

Production

Very complex, but considering the whole life-cycle of buses the most damaging environmental impacts occur in the usage phase.

Energy: the energy used in the production phase is relatively low.
Materials: Chassis and coachwork consist mainly of steel or aluminium. Use of light materials such as carbon fibre or high-quality plastics is either expensive or impractical.
Chemicals: mainly used for varnishes

In use

The biggest environmental impacts are in the usage phase of this product:

Use of fossil fuels: there are several potential impacts of extraction, such as oil spills, atmospheric emissions (gas leaks, etc).
CO² emissions
Emission in the air of harmful substances: This depends on the type of fuel needed and the type of vehicle. Other influences are the style of driving, whether a bus is used for short or long distances and maintenance.
Noise: This depends on the type of tyres and engines utilised.

In this phase, the driver can have an impact on fuel efficiency and emissions. Thus raising driver awareness and training (on environmental matters) can be useful.

Waste

Lots of materials from a used bus can be, and are, recycled.

Cost aspects

Life cycle costs

Mainly fuel costs but maintenance is also an important issue.

The fuel costs depend on the fuel efficiency of the buses. The supplier can deliver this information
Maintenance should be undertaken regularly
Costs of disposal

Links

Examples of existing eco-labels (not exhaustive)

Name	Website	Language
Der Blaue Engel	Low-noise Diesel-Engine Commercial Vehicles, Municipal Vehicles and Buses RAL-UZ59a www.blauer-engel.de	German and English
Der Blaue Engel	Low-Noise and Low-Pollutant Gas-Powered Commercial, Municipal Vehicles and Buses RAL-UZ59b www.blauer-engel.de	German and English

Other potential sources for consultation (not exhaustive)

Website	Language
Dutch website on GPP - Senternovem	Dutch
Belgian website on GPP - Guide des achats durables	Dutch, French
French website on GPP - Administration éco-responsable	French
European Commission - Transport and environment	English
Summaries of EU air pollution legislation	English, Spanish, Danish, German, Greek, French, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Finnish, Swedish
European Commission - Clean air and transport	English
Finnish website on GPP - Motiva	Finnish

Relevant criteria for green public procurement

All production process-related criteria of eco-labelling schemes can be considered as appropriate for defining a product in a tendering procedure, provided that:

the criteria, as well as the way in which they are being applied, are compliant with community law, in particular with the principles regarding non-discrimination and equal treatment; this implies, amongst other things, that the criteria have to be measurable/verifiable so as to treat bidders (economic operators) in the same way and allow effective verification of bids against tender documents;
the criteria concern the production of the products, which are to be supplied to the purchasing authority (and hence they cannot concern the overall environmental management measures of the company producing, or supplying, the products).

For buses these concern criteria prescribe, for instance:

Reduction of the emissions of polluting substances
Reduction of noise
Energy efficiency
The vehicle has a particles filter (only for diesel).
The vehicle satisfies the Euro V requirements
The vehicle is equipped with an on-board computer (to show fuel usage).
The components of the bus are recyclable and/or made of material containing a substantial percentage of recycled material.
The tyres are re-treaded.

Further, the contracting authority should consider the purchase of cars and buses, which run on alternative fuels and technologies (non-fossil fuels) which are less polluting and more energy efficient, such as LPG or hybrid traction (combustion engine and electromotor) or bio fuel.