Funded by the

European Union

Sustainable Public Procurement for Policymakers

The Challenges
Natural Resources GHG emissions

In 2015, Asia and the

330% GHG emissions from
the region grew by
63% Pacfi�c represents 63% 330%, including
of global material use. increase in short-lived
climate pollutants

Plastic Air pollution

6,300 Mt of plastic
waste has been 70% Air pollution is
79% generated as of 2015. responsible for more
Of this waste, than 6.5 million deaths
9% has been recycled, annually, the bulk of
12% incinerated, and which – 70 %– occurs
79% has accumulated in Asia Pacific.
in landfills or the Source: APCAP, 2018
Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) natural environment.
is an essential process to align public
procurement for achieving sustainable Scale of SPP in Asia Pacific
development and institutionalisation of SPP 25
Procurement as a % of GDP
requires policy support. 20

15 14.44 13.61
What is Sustainable 13.03 12.61
Public Procurement (SPP) 10

5
SPP is a process whereby public organizations meet
their needs for goods, services, works and utilities in a 0
Low income Upper middle income Lower middle income High income
way that achieves value for money on whole life-cycle
basis in terms of generating benefits not only to the 25
organization, but also to society and the economy, 20 19.27
whilst significantly reducing negative impacts on the 14.91
15 14.53
environment. SPP is also included in Sustainable 12.30 11.70 11.38
Development Goals (SDGs) under SDG 12 (Responsible 10 9.26
Consumption and Production) indicator 12.7. SPP is 5
also taken in the same spirit as Green Public
0
Procurement (GPP) in many countries. South Sub-Saharan Latin America Europe & North Middle East & East Asia
Asia Africa & Caribbean Central Asia America North Africa & Pacific

Source: World Bank, 2016

Emerging and developing Asia: Gross domestic product (GDP) from 2014 to 2024 (in billion U.S. dollars)
35 000 30 289.2
27 978.43
30 000 25 836.39
23 838.5
GDP in billion U.S. dollars

25 000 21 955.58
20 318.04
20 000
16 160.82 17 579.64 19 133.35
15 000
15 133.08 15 847.66

10 000

5 000

0
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

Source: IMF, 2019

 Benefits of SPP
There are enormous economic, social, environmental If all IT purchases in Europe followed the example of the
and political benefits of SPP due to the huge volume of Copenhagen City Council and the Swedish
public procurement. Administrative Development Agency, energy
consumption would be cut by around 30 terawatt hours
As per the switch2Green – roughly the equivalent of four nuclear reactors;
(https://www.switchtogreen.eu/?p=1527) the benefits £40.7 million (€47.2 million) could be saved in the UK if
associated with GPP implementation are not limited to the proposed Government Buying Standards (GPP
environmental impact but can also include social, criteria) are applied by all central government
health, economic or political benefits. Some examples departments and executive agencies, according to a
of actual and potential benefits generated by European cost-benefit analysis which monetised the potential
authorities through GPP are presented below: impacts;
the City of Vienna saved €44.4 million and over 100,000 CO2 emissions would be cut by 15 million tonnes per
tonnes of CO2 between 2004 and 2007, through its year if the whole EU adopted the same environmental
EcoBuy programme; criteria for lighting and office equipment as the City of
three million tonnes of CO2 would be saved in the Turku, Finland - reducing electricity consumption by
Netherlands alone if all Dutch public authorities applied 50%.
the national Sustainable Public Procurement criteria,
which include green criteria, while public sector energy
consumption would be reduced by 10%;

Example of Thailand and Vietnam capacity building projects

Support Policy Development Support Establishment of Support Policy Proliferate Outcomes and
and Enhancement Policy Implementation Basis Implementation Develop Follow-up Project

Propose to Revise or Modify Develop GPP Guidelines Support Policy Development

the legal Framework and Enhancement
Propose legal review and Develop guidelines Suggest short-term
revision for implementation incorporating green roadmap for transferring
VIETNAM

of SPP procurement into existing know-how and supporting

public procurement procedures implementation of SPP
Assist Establishment of Capacity-Building &
GPP Criteria Awareness-raising
Outcomes and Follow-up
Support establishment of Hold workshops for
Project
criteria for SPP products policy-makers, procurers
and companies Proliferation of outcomes
and propose measures to
cooperate with other
similar projects
Recommend GPP Transfer of Know-how Development of follow-up
Incentive Mechanisms project after completion of
Recommend SPP Host an event to support pilot project
networking between Korea
THAILAND

incentives through
benchmarking and Thailand experts

Assist Establishment of Awareness-raising &

GPP Criteria Public Outreach
Support establishment of Hold events to promote
criteria for SPP products SPP of construction &
building materials

Policymakers role for SPP Contact

Policy support is required for the following main Mushtaq Ahmed Memon, Ph.D.
components of SPP : Regional Coordinator for Resource Efficiency
1. Integration of SPP in current public procurement United Nations Environment Programme,
process Asia Pacific Regional Office
2. Incentive mechanisms for SPP
3. Certification system and ecolabeling Project Manager
4. Stakeholders’ engagement Regional Policy Advocacy Component
5. Market readiness (SWITCH-Asia - the European Union
6. Supporting the ministries/department to establish GPP funded programme)
Email: [email protected]
7. Capacity building of relevant procurement departments
and personnel
Implemented by

April 2020