# Analysis of Green Public Procurement of Works by Spanish Public Universities
## 1 Introduction  
Public procurement accounts for approximately 10 to 15% of the gross domestic product (GDP) of developed countries [1; 2; 3], and in other countries, these values are even greater [4; 5]. Public authorities are one of the main consumers of products, services, and works--and such authorities can play a crucial role in making consumption more sustainable [6; 7]. In the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) held in Johannesburg in 2002, an implementation plan to support regional and national initiatives was created to accelerate the shift towards sustainable consumption and production (SCP) and de-link economic growth from environmental degradation. In June 2003, as a consequence of the Marrakech process, the Marrakech Task Forces were created to support the implementation of specific projects on specific sustainable consumption and production (SCP) themes. One of the seven task forces was led by Finland and entitled 'Sustainable Buildings and Construction', and its objectives included encouraging sustainable public procurement (SPP) [8]. SPP was defined by the United Nations as a procurement wherein an organization uses its buying power to signal preferences to the market with its choice of goods and services that meet sustainable criteria [9]. Within the public policies of SPP, environmental aspects have been increasingly considered [10] and have led to the concept of green public procurement (GPP). GPP was defined by the European Commission as a: 'process whereby public authorities seek to produce goods, services, and works with a reduced environmental impact through their life cycle when compared to goods, services, and works with the primary function that would otherwise be procured' [11]. Green Public Procurement is supported by several international development policies and strategies, and is an important instrument that contributes to the achievement of economic and environmental objectives [12]. Administrations, as major consumers, can potentially orient production and consumption trends and encourage the demand of environmentally friendly products and services [13; 14; 15]. Although other authors, as for example [PERSON] and [PERSON] [16], in their research on Greece and Cyprus during the economic crisis period have pointed out that GPP is not a suitable way to improve the adoption of environmental management practices due to the austerity measures and budgetary cuts. In any case, the interest in GPP from administrations, as well as researchers and academics, has increased significantly in recent years [17]. Universities are included within public administrations. They play an important role in the category of public institutions because they conduct huge purchasing and contracting activities [18; 19] and contribute to sustainable development through education, research, and daily operations [20]. Several studies have been published about GPP practices at Spanish universities [19; 21], but they are focused on products and/or services, rather than the works of construction and facilities. The practices of GPP in the construction sector must be studied for two main reasons: The high impact on the environment; and the fact that it is one of the most important sectors in terms of the amount of money spent and expertise required. The Worldwatch Institute's State of the World 2012 states that the construction industry consumes more than one-third of global resources [22] and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) states that this sector consumes around 25-40% of final energy consumption in the OECD [10]. In economic terms, the construction sector represents 9.3% European Union GDP and employs 7% of the European workforce [23]. [PERSON] et al. [10] showed that an analysis of the uptake of GPP can be performed from three approaches: Technical specifications; award criteria; and contract performance conditions.