Green Public Procurement (GPP)

Green Public Procurement (GPP) urges public purchasers to take account of environmental factors when buying products or services.
 
The Commission published a Communication on GPP in July 2008. This document gave a clear definition of what GPP is: “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.”  Besides providing an official definition for GPP, the Communication also proposes assessments and monitoring methodologies, and identifies priority sectors for GPP. In July 2010 the European Commission concluded a process of GPP criteria development for a second set of priority sectors. In response to the Communication, Member States have adopted national Action Plans for greening their public procurement. Although in the European Union GPP is voluntary, Member States are adamantly pursuing GPP policies because it plays a key role in assisting Europe in becoming a more resource-efficient economy.

In March 2010 the European Commission launched the Europe 2020 Strategy: a European strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. The strategy reinvigorates the GPP policy in Europe by encouraging wider use of green public procurement.