Buying green can help save
the environment and taxpayer’s money

The EU’s new Public Procurement Directives, adopted in March 2004, make clear that public authorities can take account of environmental considerations in their procurement procedures in many different ways.

To help them in this, the Commission has produced a Handbook on Green Public Procurement. It explains in clear, non-technical terms how public purchasers, such as schools, hospitals and national and local administrations, can take into account the environment when buying goods, services and works.

The major barriers for public authorities doing this appear to be lack of knowledge about setting the right environmental criteria in tender documents, budgetary constraints due to the often higher “up front” price of green products and services, and legal uncertainty.

Each year public authorities spend some 16% of EU GDP, around € 1,500 billion, on goods, services and works. If they opt for environmentally sound goods, services and works, they will help the EU reach sustainable development. Green purchasing also covers efficient use of energy and resources as well as waste prevention, thus contributing to saving taxpayer’s money.

The new Handbook gives best-practice examples and provides advice covering every step of a procurement procedure. It insists on the importance of taking into account the life-cycle cost of the purchased products, services and works, and it refers to an online database which gives environmental information on some 100 products and services.

The Handbook and further information can be found at: http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/publicprocurement/key-docs_en.htm

Further information at:
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