Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions Public procurement for a better environment {SEC(2008) 2124} {SEC(2008) 2125} {SEC(2008) 2126}
Date: 2008-07-02
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: eco-label, economic growth, goods and services, public contract

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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 16.7.2008 
COM(2008) 400 final 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

Public procurement for a better environment  

{SEC(2008) 2124} 
{SEC(2008) 2125} 
{SEC(2008) 2126} 

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1. 

INTRODUCTION 

1.1. 

Potential benefits of Green Public Procurement (GPP) 

Each year European public authorities spend the equivalent of 16% of the EU Gross Domestic 
Product  on  the  purchase  of  goods,  such  as  office  equipment,  building  components  and 
transport  vehicles;  services,  such  as  buildings  maintenance,  transport  services,  cleaning  and 
catering  services  and  works1.  Public  procurement  can  shape  production  and  consumption 
trends  and  a  significant  demand  from  public  authorities  for  "greener"  goods  will  create  or 
enlarge markets for environmentally friendly products and services. By doing so, it will also 
provide incentives for companies to develop environmental technologies2.  

A more sustainable use of natural resources and raw materials would benefit the environment 
as well as the overall economy, creating opportunities for emerging "green" economies3. Such 
a shift could also boost the competitiveness of European industry by stimulating innovation in 
eco-technologies  –  which  have  been  recognised  as  a  high-growth  sector  where  Europe  is 
already  a  world  leader.  Studies  have  confirmed  that  there  is  considerable  scope  for  cost-
effective green public procurement (GPP) - in particular in sectors where green products are 
not more expensive than the non-green alternatives (taking into account the life cycle cost of 
the product).4 As "greener" goods are defined on a life cycle basis, GPP will affect the whole 
supply chain and will also stimulate the use of green standards in private procurement.  

1.2. 

Policy background  

The potential of GPP as a policy instrument has been increasingly recognised, and over recent 
years there has been growing political commitment at national, EU and international levels. In 
2002, the OECD adopted a Recommendation on green public procurement. As a follow-up to 
the  Johannesburg  World  Summit  on  Sustainable  Development  (September  2002),  a 
Marrakech  Task  force  on  sustainable  procurement  was  created  with  the  aim  of  spreading 
sustainable (green) public procurement practices. Sustainable procurement policies have been 
launched in many OECD countries (USA, Japan, Canada, Australia, and South Korea) as well 
as in rapidly developing countries (such as China, Thailand, and Philippines).  

Within  the  EU,  the  potential  of  GPP  was  first  highlighted  in  the  2003  Commission 
Communication  on  Integrated  Product  Policy  where  Member  States  were  recommended  to 
adopt national action plans for GPP by the end of 2006. The new European legal framework 
for  public  procurement5  has  clarified  how  public  purchasers  can  include  environmental 
considerations in their procurement processes and procedures. Most recently, the renewed EU 

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5 

It's worth noting that for most public authorities, construction and renovation works, and running costs 
of buildings represent a major share of annual expenditure, in some cases over 50 % 
An  environmental  technology  is  any  technology  designed  to  prevent  or  reduce  the  environmental 
impacts, at any stage of the life cycle of products or activities.  
UNEP Year Book 2008 
http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=528&ArticleID=5748&l=en 
Life cycle costs should cover the purchase price and associated costs (delivery, installation, 
commissioning…), operating costs (including energy, spares, maintenance) and end-of-life costs such 
as decommissioning, removal and disposal. 
Directives 2004/17/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 coordinating 
the  procurement  procedures  of  entities  operating  in  the  water,  energy,  transport  and  postal  services 
sectors, and Directive 2004/18/EC 18 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 
on the coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts, public supply contracts and 
public service contracts. 

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Sustainable Development Strategy (June 2006), set the policy objective for 2010 of bringing 
the  average  level  of  EU  green  public  procurement  up  to  the  standard  achieved  by  the  best 
performing Member States in 2006.  

This Communication is part of the Action Plan on Sustainable Consumption and Production 
and Sustainable Industrial Policy (SCP/SIP), which establishes a framework for the integrated 
implementation  of  a  mix  of  instruments  aimed  at  improving  the  energy  and  environmental 
performances of products. 

1.3. 

Action at the European level 

The  basic  concept  of  GPP  relies  on  having  clear  and  ambitious  environmental  criteria  for 
products  and  services.  A  number  of  national  criteria  and  national  approaches  to  GPP  have 
been  developed.  However,  as  the  use  of  GPP  increases,  the  criteria  used  by  Member  States 
should be compatible to avoid a distortion of the single market and a reduction of EU-wide 
competition.  Having  a  single  set  of  criteria  would  considerably  reduce  the  administrative 
burden  for  economic  operators  and  for  public  administrations  implementing  GPP.  Common 
GPP  criteria  would  be  of  a  particular  benefit  to  companies  operating  in  more  than  one 
Member State as well as SMEs (whose capacity to master differing procurement procedures is 
limited). 
Environmental criteria do exist at the European level – for e.g. under the EU Eco-label6; the 
Energy  Star  Regulation7;  the  Ecodesign  for  energy-using  products  Directive8.  Some  recent 
proposals also aim at setting criteria which will be useful for GPP, such as the proposal for a 
revision of the Ecodesing for energy-using products Directive, which provides for the setting 
of  both  minimum  requirements  and  advanced  performance  benchmarks,  the  proposal  for  a 
Directive  on  the  promotion  of  clean  and  energy  efficient  vehicles9  which  establishes  a 
harmonised  methodology  for  calculating  the  lifetime  cost  of  pollutant  emissions  and  fuel 
consumption  and  the  proposal  for  a  Directive  on  the  promotion  of  the  use  of  energy  from 
renewable sources10 which includes sustainability criteria for biofuels and bioliquids and may 
involve  –in  future-  the  setting  up  of  sustainability  criteria  for  biomass,  including  forest 
biomass.  

The  more  in-depth  development  and  setting  of  environmental  criteria  and  their  interrelation 
and potential use for GPP are core elements of the Action Plan on Sustainable Consumption 
and  Production  and  Sustainable  Industrial  Policy.  The  Action  Plan  aims,  in  particular,  to 
establish  a  dynamic  framework  to  improve  the  energy  and  environmental  performance  of 

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Regulation  (EC)  No  1980/2000  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  17  July  2000  on  a 
revised Community Eco-label Award Scheme, currently being revised  
Regulation (EC) No 106/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 January 2008 on a 
Community energy –efficiency labelling programme for office equipment; Whilst the Energy Star is a 
voluntary  label,  the  Regulation  makes  the  use  of  the  underlying  requirements  mandatory  for  central 
government authorities and Community Institutions in public procurement contracts falling within the 
scope of the Public Procurement Directives 
Directive  2005/32/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  6 July  2005  establishing  a 
framework for the setting of ecodesign requirements for energy-using products 
COM  (2007)817  final  of  19.12.2007;  the  proposal  would  establish  a  harmonised  methodology  for 
calculating  the  lifetime  cost  of  pollutant  emissions  and  fuel  consumption  (external  costs)  of  vehicles 
and would require contracting authorities and public transport operators to use this methodology when 
calculating 
decisions 
a 
http://ec.europa.eu/transport/clean/index_en.htm  
COM  (2008)  19  final  of  23.1.2008;  the  proposal  includes  sustainability  criteria  for  biofuels  and 
bioliquids  and  provides  that  the  Commission  shall  report  on  requirements  for  a  sustainability  scheme 
for energy uses of biomass, other than biofuels and other bioliquids, by 31 December 2010 at the latest  

procurement 

vehicle 

overall 

price 

the 

for 

of 

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products and foster their uptake by consumers. This will include setting ambitious standards 
throughout  the  market,  ensuring  that  products  are  improved  by  a  systemic  approach  to 
incentives  and  innovation  and  ensuring  that  demand  underpins  this  policy.  The  specific 
elements of relevance for public procurement will be discussed in more detail below.  

1.4. 

Obstacles to the take-up of GPP  

To date, the potential of GPP has only partially been exploited. At the beginning of 2008 only 
14 Member States had adopted national action plans (twelve more Member States are working 
towards the adoption of a plan or a strategy)11. The main obstacles to increased take-up are:  

•  Limited  established  environmental  criteria  for  products  /  services  –  and  where  these  do 

exist there are often insufficient mechanisms, such as databases, to publicise them. 

•  Insufficient  information  on  life  cycle  costing  of  products  and  the  relative  costs  of 

environmentally friendly products / services.  

•  Low awareness of the benefits of environmentally friendly products and services.  

•  Uncertainty about legal possibilities to include environmental criteria in tender documents. 

•  The lack of political support and resulting limited resources for implementing / promoting 

GPP (improved training is particularly necessary).  

•  The lack of a coordinated exchange of best practice and information between regions and 

local authorities.  

2. 

OBJECTIVES  

The  general  objective  of  this  Communication  is  to  provide  guidance  on  how  to  reduce  the 
environmental  impact  caused  by  public  sector  consumption  and  to  use  GPP  to  stimulate 
innovation in environmental technologies, products and services.  

The  specific  objectives  of  this  Communication  are  to  address  the  obstacles  to  the  uptake  of 
GPP that have been identified in section 1.4.: 

•  a process for setting common GPP criteria; 

•  information on life cycle costing of products; 

•  legal and operational guidance; 

•  political support through a political target, linked to indicators and future monitoring  

3. 

A COMMON APPROACH TO GPP 

3.1. 

In terms of the procurement process  

Public procurement is essentially a process and for the purpose of this Communication, GPP 
can therefore be understood as:  

"…a  process  whereby  public authorities  seek  to  procure  goods,  services  and  works 
with a reduced environmental impact throughout their life cycle  when compared to 
goods, services and works with the same primary function that would otherwise be 
procured."  

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Detailed information on the state of play and content of national GPP action plans can be found at the 
GPP website on Europa: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/gpp/national_gpp_strategies_en.htm 

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The Communication seeks to cover all public procurement procedures, above and below the 
thresholds defined by the European public procurement Directives. In all cases, environmental 
specifications, selection and award criteria and contract clauses would need to be formulated 
in full compliance with EU public procurement legislation and other relevant EU or national 
legislation.  

3.2. 

In terms of environmental performance  

The  process-oriented  definition  of  GPP  is  insufficient  to  allow  objective  benchmarking  and 
target  setting.  For  this  to  be  possible  it  needs  to  be  linked  to  compliance  with  clear  GPP 
criteria. A preliminary set of common GPP criteria has already been established for a series of 
product and service groups, examples of which can be found in the Staff working document in 
Annex of this Communication. As explained in section 4.1, the Commission now proposes to 
formalise this process with a view to endorse the existing and establish further common GPP 
criteria  for  more  product  groups,  in  close  cooperation  with  the  Member  States  and  relevant 
stakeholders.  Common  GPP  criteria  have  the  advantage  of  avoiding  market  distortions  and 
reduced competition which could arise as a result of differing national GPP criteria.  

In  order  for  a  procurement  procedure  to  qualify for  GPP,  GPP  criteria  will,  in  principle,  be 
formulated  as  minimum  technical  specifications  that  all  bids  have  to  comply  with.  Some  of 
the  GPP  criteria  may  also  be  formulated  as  environmental  award  criteria,  to  stimulate 
additional  environmental  performance  without  being  mandatory  and  therefore  without 
foreclosing  the  market  for  products  not  reaching  the  proposed  level  of  performance.  Award 
criteria, if given a significant weighting, may however give an important signal to the market 
place.  Depending  on  the  type  of  product  and  the  number  and  importance  of  the  other  –non 
environmental- award criteria, a weighting of 15 % or more could be considered “significant”.  

4. 

COMMON GPP CRITERIA 

4.1. 

Process for setting common GPP criteria 

A preliminary set of common GPP criteria has been established in the framework of a recently 
developed Training Toolkit on Green public procurement12. Criteria have been developed for 
product  and  service  groups  in  10  sectors  which  had  been  identified  as  most  suitable  for 
implementing GPP. The criteria have been based on existing European and national ecolabel 
criteria where appropriate, as well as on information collected from stakeholders of industry 
and civil society. An expert group which brings together Member State representatives who 
are active in the field of GPP has been set up and has closely cooperated with the Commission 
services in the criteria setting exercise.  

The Commission proposes to formalise this process of consultation with the aim of achieving 
more  and  better  GPP  based  on  common  GPP  criteria  and  a  common  measurement  method, 
based on the principles of the open method of coordination. Therefore, Member States will be 
invited to formally endorse the already developed GPP criteria, after their endorsement by the 
Commission  services  and  following  a  final  consultation  round  with  the  Member  States  and 
with stakeholders from industry and civil society, in accordance with the Minimum Standards 
for Consultation13. The formal endorsement by Member States would imply that the common 
GPP  criteria  would  be  included  in  the  national  action  plans  and  guidance  on  Green  public 
procurement which Member States have set up or are in the process of setting up in the light 
of the Communication on Integrated Product Policy of 2003.  

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The Training Toolkit can be downloaded from: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/gpp/toolkit_en.htm  
http://ec.europa.eu/civil_society/consultation_standards/index_en.htm  

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This process will be repeated in the future and the Commission will continue to steer the work 
of the group of national GPP experts and develop and submit new draft GPP criteria for more 
product  and  service  groups.  Draft  criteria  will  also  be  discussed  with  stakeholders  from 
industry and civil society. Approval of criteria will be subject to strict consultation standards. 
Work will focus on sectors which have been identified as having the highest potential for GPP 
(section 4.2).  

This  process  will  take  full  account  of  existing  and  on-going  work  on  environmental  criteria 
setting  within  the  framework  of  the  SCP.  Criteria  will  be  based  on  a  life  cycle  approach. 
Examples of potential sources of future GPP criteria are: the EU Ecolabel criteria; the Energy 
Star  energy  efficiency  requirements  for  office  equipment;  the  environmental  performance 
benchmarks which will be developed under the implementing measures in the framework of a 
revised Ecodesign Directive; the proposed methodology for internalising external costs in the 
proposal  for  a  Directive  on  the  promotion  of  clean  and  energy  efficient  vehicles  and  the 
proposed sustainability criteria for biofuels and bioliquids in the proposal for a Directive on 
the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources. Common GPP criteria will only 
be set for products and services which are not (yet) covered by mandatory GPP criteria14.  

The  established  GPP  criteria  distinguish  between  "core"  and  "comprehensive"  criteria.  The 
core  criteria  are  designed  to  allow  easy  application  of  GPP,  focussing  on  the  key  area(s)  of 
environmental  performance  of  a  product  and  aimed  at  keeping  administrative  costs  for 
companies to a minimum. The "comprehensive" GPP criteria take into account more aspects 
or higher levels of environmental performance, for use by authorities that want to go further 
in supporting environmental and innovation goals. Since "core" criteria form the basis of the 
"comprehensive"  criteria,  this  distinction  between  "core"  and  "comprehensive"  will  reflect 
differences  in  terms  of  ambition  and  availability  of  green  products  whilst  at  the  same  time 
pushing markets to evolve in the same direction.  

Where,  for  the  same  product,  European  criteria  distinguish  between  various  levels  of 
environmental  performance,  the  "core"  and  "comprehensive"  GPP  criteria  are  drafted 
accordingly.  If,  for  instance,  a  given  product  is  covered  by  both  the  Energy  Star  energy 
efficiency  requirements  and  by  the  voluntary  European  Ecolabel,  the  "core"  GPP  criteria 
would be set at the level of the energy efficiency requirements of the Energy Star Regulation, 
whereas the "comprehensive" criteria would be set on the basis of ecolabel criteria. The two 
sets  of  criteria  will  allow  Member  States  and  contracting  authorities  to  gradually  improve 
levels  of  GPP,  and  to  give  clear  signals  to  the  market  place  to  continuously  improve  the 
environmental  performance  of  products  and  services.  For  product  groups  which  are  not 
covered  by  any  of  the  above  mentioned  Regulations  or  schemes,  but  only  by  the  European 
Ecolabel,  the  process  for  setting  common  GPP  criteria  would  –similarly-  seek  to  identify 
"core" and "comprehensive" GPP criteria, with the "core" criteria being based on the ecolabel 
criteria  which  address  the  main  environmental  impacts  and  are  easiest  to  comply  with, 
whereas  the  "comprehensive"  criteria  would  address  additional  ecolabel  criteria  that  can  be 
considered relevant for defining a given product. 

Where no European criteria exist, GPP criteria would be based on national or other databases 
of environmental criteria and also discussed with stakeholders from industry and civil society. 

Criteria are and will be formulated in a way so as to facilitate their understanding by (public) 
purchasers  and  bidders  and  to  ease  their  inclusion  in  public  tender  documents,  in  full 

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Section  6  refers  to  future  mandatory  measures  on  GPP,  which  may  include  the  setting  of  mandatory 
thresholds for public procurement in the framework of the revised and/or new Labelling Directives (see 
section 2.3 of the Action Plan on Sustainable Consumption and Production) 

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compliance with Public procurement legislation. Where individual materials (such as wood) 
are addressed within the context of several priority sectors (construction, paper and printing 
services,  energy  and  furniture,  in  the  case  of  wood),  one  coherent  set  of  criteria  will  be 
developed.  Where  different  materials  can  be  used  for  the  same  purpose,  criteria  setting  will 
take  into  account  the  possibility  to  increase  the  use  of  renewable  substitutes  where 
appropriate. 

The  "core"  GPP  criteria  will  be  used  as  a  basis  for  target  setting  and  benchmarking,  to 
stimulate their EU-wide take-up. Monitoring will therefore take into account compliance with 
"core"  GPP  criteria.  In  addition,  verification  of  compliance  with  "comprehensive"  criteria 
could  be  carried  out  in  the  best  performing  Member  States,  in  view  of  setting  new 
benchmarks for the future.  

4.2. 

Priority sectors  

The Commission has identified ten "priority" sectors  for  GPP.  These  have  been selected on 
the  basis  of  the  importance  of  the  relevant  sector  in  terms  of  the  scope  for  environmental 
improvement;  public  expenditure;  potential  impact  on  the  supply  side;  example  setting  for 
private  or  corporate  consumers;  political  sensitivity;  existence  of  relevant  and  easy-to-use 
criteria; market availability and economic efficiency.  

The priority sectors are: 

1.  Construction  (covering  raw  materials,  such  as  wood,  aluminium,  steel,  concrete,  glass  as 
well as construction products, such as windows, wall and floor coverings, heating and cooling 
equipment,  operational  and  end-of-life  aspects  of  buildings,  maintenance  services,  on-site 
performance of works contracts)  

2. Food and catering services 
3. Transport and transport services15  

4. Energy (including electricity, heating and cooling coming from renewable energy sources)  

5. Office machinery and computers 

6. Clothing, uniforms and other textiles 

7. Paper and printing services 

8. Furniture  

9. Cleaning products and services 

10. Equipment used in the health sector 

5. 

GPP TARGETS 

5.1. 

Target for GPP in the renewed Sustainable Development Strategy 

The renewed Sustainable Development Strategy set a formal GPP target, that by year 2010, 
the  average  level  of  GPP  should  be  the  same  as  the  current  (i.e.  2006)  level  of  the  best 
performing Member States.  

15 

whilst the proposal for a Directive on the promotion of clean and energy efficient vehicles establishes a 
harmonised  method  for  calculating  the  lifetime  cost  of  pollutant  emissions  and  fuel  consumption  and 
provides for the mandatory use of this method in public procurement after a transitional period, it is still 
useful  to  propose  GPP  criteria  for  Transport  and  transport  services  which  would  apply  until  the  new 
harmonised methodology provided for under the proposal would become applicable 

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Several front-running Member States in the field of GPP have set ambitious GPP targets: the 
Dutch government has set a 100 % Sustainable Procurement target to be reached by 2010; the 
Austrian Government has identified different targets to be met by 2010 for 5 product groups: 
IT: 95 %, electricity : 80 %, paper: 30 %, cleaning products: 95 %, vehicles: 20 %. In France, 
20 % of total annual renewal of vehicles purchased by central government should consist of 
"clean"  vehicles,  20  %  of  new  constructions  should  be  compliant  with  HQE16  standards  or 
equivalent and 50 % of all wood products should be legally sourced and sustainable by 2010. 
In the UK, the Sustainable Procurement Action Plan is closely linked to a series of sustainable 
operations targets for the Government office estate, including a pledge to go carbon neutral by 
2012 and to reduce carbon emissions by 30 per cent by 2020. 

A recent study on GPP performance across EU Member States has provided the Commission 
with  clear  indications  on  the  current  level  of  GPP  in  the  best  performing  Member  States, 
which is the baseline for the target set in the renewed Sustainable Development Strategy. On 
this basis, the Commission proposes that, by the year 2010, 50 % of all tendering procedures 
should be green, where "green" means "compliant with endorsed common “core” GPP criteria 
as referred to in Section 4.1. The percentage would be expressed in both number and value of 
green  contracts  as  compared  to  the  overall  number  and  value  of  contracts  concluded  in  the 
sectors for which common “core” GPP criteria have been identified. 

Only for product and service groups for which common GPP criteria have been established, is 
it possible to objectively benchmark the situation between Member States and propose more 
detailed  targets.  The  Commission  is  currently  developing  a  method  for  calculating  exact 
levels of GPP, which will focus on compliance with common "core" GPP criteria and will be 
based on an analysis of a representative sample of tendering procedures. The method will be 
implemented in the best performing Member States. In 2010, the survey will be repeated in all 
the  EU  Member  States.  It  is  therefore  very  important  for  the  Member  States  to  endorse  the 
common GPP criteria that are being developed and to implement these in their national action 
plans and guidance on Green public procurement. Compliance with “comprehensive” criteria 
will  be  monitored  as  well,  but  only  in  the  best  performing  Member  States,  with  a  view  to 
measuring progress in these Member States and assess the potential of setting new targets for 
the  future:  increasing  the  target  for  procedures  complying  with  “core”  GPP  criteria  and/or 
setting a target for compliance with “comprehensive” criteria.  

5.2. 

Specific targets for GPP in the implementation of EU funding mechanisms  

5.2.1.  Procurement by Member State authorities using EU funds  

Every  year  billions  of  euros  are  spent  under  the  EU's  Cohesion  Policy  for  regional 
development  and  economic  and  social  cohesion  throughout  Europe.  For  the  2007-13 
programming  period  (with  a  total  budget  of  €308  billion),  sustainable  development  was 
reconfirmed as one of the most important principles of the Cohesion Policy.17  

Many  other  EU  funding  programmes  exist,  such  as  for  instance  the  Seventh  Framework 
Programme  (FP7),  which  bundles  research-related  EU  initiatives.  It  set  aside  a  maximum 
overall amount for Community financial participation of EUR 50 521 million for the period 
2007 – 2013. Whilst most of this money would finance core research activities which are not 
relevant for GPP, the overheads of the projects (covering a maximum of 7 % of grants) would 
be suitable for “greening”.  

16 

17 

French  construction  standard  aimed  at  achieving  high  environmental  quality  (“Haute  Qualité 
Environnementale”)  
Article 17 of the General Provisions Regulation for the Cohesion Policy 1083/2006/EC  

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Where these funds are spent directly by public authorities and the latter carry out procurement 
procedures to implement the funded projects, the Commission considers that GPP could easily 
be incorporated. A focussed action where managing authorities and other beneficiaries of EC 
funding  would  be  strongly  recommended  to  use  GPP  for  the  implementation  of  EC  funded 
projects, would create an important incentive for the overall uptake of GPP, as those projects 
cover an important part of total public procurement expenditure. Such a practice by Member 
States, particularly those where GPP is lower than average, would contribute to their reaching 
the 50% target of GPP in their procurement procedures. 

5.2.2.  Procurement by the European Commission  

The European Commission will gradually implement GPP in its general public procurement 
training sessions and introduce the recommended criteria, which have been developed in the 
framework of the Training Toolkit on GPP (Section 7), in its tendering procedures, wherever 
appropriate.  

6. 

POTENTIAL MANDATORY MEASURES  

The  Action  Plan  for  Sustainable  Consumption  and  Production  and  Sustainable  Industrial 
Policy  has  concluded  that  stimulus  is  needed  to  promote  the  uptake  of  environmentally 
performing  products,  whilst  avoiding  Internal  Market  distortions  which  may  result  from 
purely  national  incentives  for  GPP.  It  therefore  proposes  mandatory  measures  for  public 
procurement as described in its Section 2.3.  

7. 

GUIDANCE  

The Commission intends to highlight existing legal and operational guidance on GPP and to 
add to it where necessary. Although this is mainly directed at contracting authorities wishing 
to  apply  a  GPP  policy  within  their  organisation,  Member  States  should  include  it  in  their 
national GPP policies as it will facilitate implementation. The guidance includes: 

•  Legal  and  operational  guidance  for  implementing  GPP  since  legal  uncertainty 
over certain issues is still perceived as a barrier to harmonized uptake of GPP.  

•  Procurement  practices  for  more  efficient  procurement  which  demonstrate  and 
therefore  promote  that  GPP  is  a  cost-effective  way  of  purchasing  goods  or 
services. 

•  GPP Training toolkit. A web-based GPP Training Toolkit, directed at purchasers, 
policy-makers,  managers,  and  consultants,  has  been  developed.  The  Toolkit  will 
be endorsed by the Commission services and translated into all EU languages. The 
Commission  will  cooperate  with  the  Member  States  to  ensure  EU-wide 
dissemination through existing national and regional cooperation platforms.  

The details of the guidance are set out in a separate Staff Working Document accompanying 
this Communication.  

8. 

GPP AND INNOVATION 

GPP  is  a  powerful  instrument  for  stimulating  innovation  and  encouraging  companies  to 
develop new products with enhanced environmental performance. The Commission will seek 
to fully tap into this potential of GPP through various actions: 

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•  EU-wide  dissemination  of  the  recent  guide  on  "Public  Procurement  for  Research  and 
Innovation"18 and of the guidance for contracting authorities included the Communication 
on pre-commercial procurement19; 

•  establishing an EU voluntary system for third party verification of the performance claims 
of new technologies which would ease the verification of compliance with environmental 
specifications set out in tender documents;  

•  identifying "lead markets"20 and using GPP to foster the development and market take-up 
of  new  products  and  services.21  The  Lead  Market  Initiative  aims  to  create  favourable 
framework conditions in order to stimulate innovation which is crucial for competitiveness, 
through  a  mix  of  public  policy  actions.  Currently,  6  Markets  have  been  identified,  3  of 
which  cover  environmental  topics,  namely  sustainable  construction,  recycling  and  bio-
based products and are therefore of particular importance for GPP.  

9. 

GREENING PRIVATE PROCUREMENT 

The definition and criteria used for identifying and promoting "greener" goods are based on a 
life cycle approach and cover elements which affect the whole supply chain, ranging from the 
use of raw materials and production methods to the types of packaging used and the respect of 
certain take-back conditions. These criteria can equally inform private procurement practices. 
Member  States  and  Community  Institutions  are  encouraged  to  strengthen  this  link  between 
Green public and private procurement22. 

10. 

INDICATORS FOR GPP – MONITORING AND BENCHMARKING - TIMETABLE 

Two types of indicators can be used to assess the "level of GPP". 

Quantitative  indicators  can  be  used  to  assess  the  uptake  and  progress  of  the  policy,  by 
comparing the level of GPP (expressed in numbers and values of green tendering procedures) 
with  the  overall  level  of  public  procurement.  To  assess  the  impact  on  the  supply  side,  the 
Commission proposes additionally to calculate the value of green contracts as compared with 
the overall value of public procurement contracts. 

Impact-oriented  indicators  allow  the  assessment  of  the  environmental  and  financial  gains 
delivered by GPP.  

The  Commission  is  currently  developing  a  method  for  calculating  those  indicators,  which 
would  be  based  on  an  analysis  of  a  representative  sample  of  tendering  procedures  in  the 
Member States. To guarantee uniform monitoring and benchmarking, it is proposed to focus 
on  the  sectors  for  which  common  GPP  criteria  as  referred  to  in  Section  4  have  been 
established.  

In 2010, the Commission will monitor the GPP situation in all the Member States, using the 
above methodology. A tendering procedure will be considered "green" if it has resulted in a 

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20 
21 

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at: 

information 

http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/innovation/documents_en.htm 

More 
http://ec.europa.eu/invest-in-research/policy/pub_procurement_en.htm  
COM(2007) 799 final of 14 December 2007 
COM(2007)860 of 21 December 2007 
More information in the Commission Communication "Putting knowledge into practice" (COM(2006) 
502 at:  http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/leadmarket/leadmarket.htm  
A  good  example  of  this  link  to  private  procurement  can  be  found  in  the  "Mayor  of  London's  Green 
Procurement Code" at: http://www.greenprocurementcode.co.uk/  

and 

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contract which  complies  with "core" GPP criteria.  The  results  of  the  monitoring  exercise  in 
the best performing Member States will form the baseline for setting future targets. In the best 
performing  Member  States,  compliance  with  "comprehensive"  GPP  criteria  will  also  be 
measured,  in  view  of  setting  additional  targets  for  the  future  and  stimulate  innovation.  This 
exercise will be repeated every five years.  

The monitoring and benchmarking exercise will act as an incentive for the uptake of the GPP 
criteria in national tendering procedures. The Commission will, before the end of 2008, seek 
the formal endorsement by the Member States of those GPP criteria which have already been 
established. Formal endorsement implies their inclusion in national GPP guidance and in the 
national action plans which Member States have been asked by the Commission to adopt (in 
its  Integrated  Product  Policy  Communication  of  2003).  To  date,  14  Member  States  have 
adopted these action plans and 10 more are in the process of adopting such plans. Even in the 
absence  of  action  plans,  the  Commission  urges  Member  States  to  ensure  the  uptake  of  the 
common GPP criteria in national tendering procedures. Member States will be asked to report 
on this at regular coordination meetings organised by the Commission. Member States will be 
asked  to  formally  endorse  each  new  set  of  criteria  and  to  ensure  their  effective 
implementation at national level.  

11. 

CONCLUSION AND WAY FORWARD 

The Commission is committed to promoting GPP because it is effective in promoting the take 
up  by  the  market  of  the  cleanest  products  and  services.  This  results  in  more  sustainable 
consumption  but  also  promotes  eco-innovation  and  with  it  the  competitiveness  of  the  EU 
economy. 

The Commission proposes that the Member States, the European Parliament and the Council 
should: 

–  endorse the proposed approach and method for setting common GPP criteria, the political 

target, and the recommended tools for more and better green public procurement, 

–  implement  these  through  national  GPP  strategies  and  increased  cooperation,  and  in 

particular when implementing EU funding mechanisms; 

–  support on-going work aimed at proposing complementary measures to ensure harmonized 

development of GPP criteria and targets and maximize political support for GPP. 

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