# Measuring the Effect of Circular Public Procurement on Government's Environmental Impact
###### Abstract  
Governments contribute to the transition toward a circular economy (CE) by using criteria in their procurement processes that trigger the supply of circular products and services, namely circular public procurement (CPP). CPP practices are emerging in Europe. However, the effect of CPP is not yet monitored and hence remains unclear. What is the efficacy of CPP in reducing the impacts of goods and services? Analyzing CPP efficacy is an important next step in exploring how to improve its application. This paper presents the results of an effect evaluation of CPP in the Netherlands, using a sample-based mixed-method approach in combination with life cycle assessment for analyzing CPP-induced reduced impacts on global warming and material use. Two thirds of the procurement tenders in which circular procurement criteria were applied in 2017 and 2018 did not result in reduced environmental impacts or reduced material use. One third, however, showed that, as well as how CPP can contribute to the transition toward a CE. The identified remaining challenges are (1) to apply criteria that are ambitious enough to challenge the market and (2) to keep attention on the circularity ambitions up during the implementation phase of the procurement process. Effect indicators are proposed to complement the current monitoring practices of CPP implementation. circular public procurement; environmental impact; monitoring; circular economy; indicators; effect +
Footnote †: journal: _Sustainability_  
make efforts to include external costs and benefits in the selection procedure of the procurement of products and services instead of only the monetary costs and function [6; 7]. Such externalities can be environmental or socioeconomic, such as greenhouse gas emissions during the life cycle of products and the inclusion of people with a disadvantage within the job market, respectively. When SPP is only directed at reducing environmental impact, it is generally referred to as green public procurement (GPP) [8]. Through SPP's governmental \"purchasing power\", focused government implementation is thought to be able to boost a society-wide trend to develop and demand for sustainable products. The idea is that an increase in demand allows suppliers to invest in more sustainable production processes and, as a consequence, increases their supply to the benefit of other purchasers. As such, SPP is thought to contribute both directly and indirectly toward the SDG policy goals, which is the reason that in the past decennium, many governments have pursued its implementation [9]. In line with the increasing attention for the transition toward a circular economy (CE) in both policy and research, recently, circular public procurement (CPP) has been introduced as a new form of SPP [10]. CPP has its own specific approach to sustainability and has been defined as \"the process by which public authorities purchase works, goods or services that seek to contribute to closed energy and material loops within supply chains, whilst minimizing, and in the best case avoiding, negative environmental impacts and waste creation across their whole life-cycle\" (p. 5 [11]). Although many different definitions of CE exist [12], its general goal is to change our predominantly linear use of materials to a circular mode of production and consumption, where in the former, materials and products are mostly wasted after having been used once, and in a CE, they are reused and recycled to lower the amount of waste and the use of virgin materials [13; 14]. A transition to a CE is expected to contribute to reducing environmental impacts, to secure resources and raw materials and to create opportunities for novel policy approaches and business models. CPP is expected to contribute to this transition. Both [PERSON] et al. (2018) and [PERSON] et al. (2020) emphasized the similarities between SPP, GPP and CPP [10; 15]. Based on CPP practices, [PERSON] et al.