Interview with Fergal Grogan, from the Office Government for Procurement (OGP), Ireland. The OGP operates as part of the Department of Public Expenditure NDP Delivery and Reform, and aims to shape a future for public procurement that is transparent and socially, environmentally and economically sustainable. Last year, the OGP hosted a workshop in Ireland as part of the Public Procurement Dialogues project, which culminated in the publication of Ireland’s Strategic Public Procurement Roadmap earlier this year.

Interview with Uwe Flach, who is the project manager of the PPE+ programme and the Head of Consulting, Organisational Development & International Affairs at Austria's Federal Procurement Agency (BBG), the central purchasing body for the public sector in Austria. BBG is part of the Consortium implementing PPE+ Europe 2024 - 2028, which aims to enhance the strategic procurement capabilities of centralised procurement organisations across Europe.

Interview with Sandra Simões, Member of the Board of Directors of the Institute of Public Markets, Real Estate and Construction (IMPIC). Ms Simões participates in the Community of Practice on Social Procurement Community in the framework of BBWT project, which supports collaboration between public procurers with large purchasing power and promotes wider use of strategic public procurement for innovative and sustainable solutions.

In this interview, Mr. Philippos Katranis pointed out that a public procurement reform was put forward to professionalize the way public authorities in Cyprus satisfy their needs employing a holistic approach to purchasing under four pillars. This strategy was approved by the Council of Ministers and today, the reform is in its implementation phase. These four pillars are: I.Introduction of the professional procurer, II.Central Purchasing Unit, III.Professionalize the largest contracting authorities, and IV.Inject project teams for big or strategic projects with procurement professionals.

Interview with Mr. Kęstutis Kazulis, Principal Advisor at the Public Procurement Office of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania. By embedding sustainability into its public procurement system, Lithuania aims to leverage its substantial public sector spending to make a positive environmental impact, while also driving long-term economic benefits through sustainable development.

The Municipality of Lisbon is one of the 10 biggest public procurers in Portugal. Aware of the responsibility that it bears, the City is committed to using public procurement as a means to inspire and influence the market, organisations, regulators, civil society and even the Government.

Interview with Frédéric Coupain, Head of Service, Collectors, Pumping Stations division at IDEA.

Joint interview with Jai Krishna from European Environmental Bureau and Tudor Cherhat from the Environmental Coalition on Standards. Mr. Krishna works with the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) as Zero Pollution Industry expert and is focussing on scaling the demand for green steel and low carbon cement demand in public procurement. Mr. Cherhat is a programme manager at Environmental Coalition on Standards (ECOS), overseeing campaign and promotion efforts focused on GPP for buildings and construction materials.

Interview with the Green Public Procurement Research Group at the University of Alcalá, which is coordinated by Ximena Lazo Vitoria (pictured). The research group recently carried out a study titled ‘Is public procurement in Spain sufficiently green?: An empirical study of school canteens’ which aimed to provide information to support public decisions-making and for social and economic actors in the food sector.

Interview with Katrin Stjernfeldt Jammeh, Mayor of Malmö and First Vice President of ICLEI and Chair of Procura+ Network. Under Katrin’s leadership Malmö has garnered an international reputation for being a sustainable, open and progressive city that has been chosen by the EU to become one of 100 climate neutral European cities by 2030.

Interview with Anne-Claire Howard, Director of the Procurement Group at UNOPS. She has been the co-chair of the Sustainable Procurement working group in the United Nations High Level Management Committee Procurement Network since May 2023.

Interview with Oriana Romano, Head of the Water Governance, Blue and Circular Economy Unit Cities, at the Urban Policies, and Sustainable Development Division of the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities.

"Biodiversity and ecosystem services are vital for all of us in Europe. Loss of nature destroys not only the foundations of our life, but also our feeling of what constitutes home. We must protect it. At the same time, food security, in harmony with nature, remains an essential task."

Interview with Lukáš Grůza, from the Department of Strategic Development and Cooperation of the Brno City Hall, Czech Republic. Mr. Grůza works as the project manager of the Smart District Špitálka and an evaluation specialist. Previously, he was responsible for coordinating Smart City activities across the city.

Interview with Fredo Schotanus, professor of Public Procurement at Utrecht University School of Economics (U.S.E) in the Netherlands. He is also co-founder of the Utrecht University Centre for Public Procurement (UUCePP) and is active as a principal consultant for Significant Synergy. He studies procurement that takes price, quality, people and the environment effectively and efficiently into account.

"Pollution does not stop at borders. It is a global issue that requires local solutions", says Marieke Schouten (NL/Greens) in this interview. The Alderman of the municipality of Nieuwegein and co-chair of the Zero Pollution Stakeholder Platform defends the concept of 'One Health' and the need to support local and regional authorities to deliver solutions adapted to each territory.

Interview with Professor Marzia Traverso, INaB Institute and Circular.srl

Plastic is everywhere, with about 380 million tonnes produced worldwide in 2015, up from 2 million tonnes in the 1950s. Only an estimated 15% is collected and recycled, while plastic that is not properly treated poses a serious environmental threat. An OECD report published in May (Improving markets for recycled plastics) studied how plastics could be better managed, recycled and reused. Peter Börkey, OECD Environment Directorate Principal Administrator, who led the work on the report, answered questions on issues around plastics.