In the previous video, the spheres of influence for local authorities were introduced. Now, Mirjam Harmlink will explore how cities and other public bodies can leverage public procurement to impact greenhouse gas emissions.

Key takeaways

• By public procurement, we refer to the process by which public authorities, such as government departments or local authorities, purchase work, goods, or services from companies. The idea behind “Green Government procurement” is that the sheer size of public procurement leads to changes in the products offered by market parties and, as such, lowers greenhouse gas emissions.
• The procurement activities are responsible for 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Of which 3% are direct greenhouse gas emissions. In other words, the scope one emissions and 12% are indirect greenhouse gas emissions, including scopes two and three.
• Sustainable procurement policies start with a good mapping of the greenhouse gas emissions of the procurement portfolio and setting ambitious but feasible emission reduction targets based on an assessment of available reduction measures and associated costs.
• Procurement by local authorities usually takes place through tendering procedures. This implies that public authorities need to include criteria in their tender documents to ensure that market parties offer products and services with a lower climate impact. They need to weigh these against other criteria like costs or social impacts. One of the tools that is widely used in the tendering process in the Netherlands is the CO2 Performance ladder.