Sustainable Timber Action in Europe
Training for Small Medium
Enterprises (SMEs)
Module 3: Sustainable Public Procurement
Training of SMEs operators
Place, date
Power of public procurement
• Public authorities in EU spend approx. €2 trillion per year – equivalent to
19% of EU GDP
• Huge range of spend areas – from paper to huge infrastructure projects
• 5 – 15% market share for most goods and services – in certain areas
much higher
• Huge potential to drive the development of sustainable solutions
Group exercise
• “Sustainable public procurement is a key enabling instrument for
countries that want to make the transition towards a green economy” –
Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director at Rio+20
But what is sustainable public procurement
(SPP)?
What is sustainable public procurement (SPP)?
• A process whereby public authorities take into consideration in their
procurement activities the environmental, social and economic
impacts of products, services or works throughout their life cycle
• Life cycle:
•
•
•
•
•
Extraction/harvesting of raw materials
Processing of materials & assembly of product
Transportation of materials and product
Consumption of product during use (energy, water etc.)
Disposal of final product
SPP examples
• Buying energy efficient computers, meeting the Energy Star requirement
• Demanding catering companies serve organic food and fair trade coffee
• Setting strict energy performance standards for new buildings and major
renovations
• Using service providers who employ disadvantaged people
• Buying green electricity, produced by renewable sources
Does it work? A small selection...
• City of Vienna: saved €44.4 million and over 100,000 tones
of CO2 emissions between 2004 and 2007 through its EcoBuy
(Ökokauf) programme
• City of Barcelona: in 2010 spent €43 million on green
products and €92 million on “greened” services (e.g. lighting,
fountain maintenance)
• City of Rome: 69% of the 144,000 meals served by the city
each day contain organic food
• Town of Venelles, France (Pop. 8,100): A majority of
cleaning products purchased are eco-labelled and fully
biodegradable
“Ecobuy Vienna”
Success factors:
•
Starting point (policy): Climate Protection Programme (“KliP Wien“)
•
Collaboration between different municipal departments: Finance, Environment,
Construction
•
Strong marketing (videoclip, games in schools, awareness raising)
•
Systematic stakeholder involvement (180 municipal employees involved in
development of product criteria)
•
Binding decree at top administration level to make “Ecobuy Vienna” criteria
mandatory for procurers
Source: www.oekokauf.wien.at
Success: WG Food
In 2009:
•30% in public hospitals
•12% in schools
•18% in elderly homes
•51% in public kindergartens
Overall success
From 2004-2007:
• 44,4 Millionen Euro (ca. 17 million EUR/year)
• 103,000 t CO2 (ca. 30,000t/year)
What can SPP achieve?
• Major reductions in CO2 emissions – Passive construction, highly-efficient lighting, IT
equipment
• Development of new environmental technologies & new ways of carrying out services
• Improvements in air & water quality, reduce waste generation – low emission vehicles,
bio-based products
• Save money – meet your needs more efficiently. Consider the real costs over the life cycle
• Social benefits – Creating skills, training and employment opportunities, encouraging fair
and equal opportunities for all, supporting SMEs and social enterprises
What is happening at the European level?
• Revision of EU Procurement Directives
• EU GPP Communication
• EU GPP support: GPP criteria, Buying Green Handbook,
Helpdesk and news-alerts
• EU GPP obligations: Clean Vehicles Directive, Energy Star
Regulation, and EPBD Directive
Revision of EU Procurement Directives
• Directives 2004/17/EC & 2004/18/EC which regulate how public and semi-public
bodies must carry out procurement, are currently under revision
• EC published proposals in December 2011. Main aims:
• to improve the efficiency of current procedures
• to allow for greater strategic use of public procurement to further
environmental, social and industrial/innovation policies
• Now put forward for adoption by the Parliament and Council
Revision of EU Procurement Directives
Main proposed changes relevant for SPP:
• Increased scope for contracts to be reserved for enterprises employing disabled
or disadvantaged workers (Article 17);
• Explicit recognition that technical specifications may include reference to the
production process or any other stage of the life-cycle for all types of contract
(Article 40);
• Possibility to refer to specific environmental or social labels in technical
specifications (Article 41);
• Ability to invoke non-compliance with EU or international social and environmental
law as grounds for refusal to award a contract to a tenderer (Article 54.2);
Revision of EU Procurement Directives
Main proposed changes relevant for SPP (cont.):
• Ability to exclude a candidate from a competition on the basis of
violations of EU or international environmental or social obligations (Article
55.3(a));
• Explicit recognition that life-cycle costing (LCC), including external
environmental costs, may be an award criterion and introduction of rules
regarding the calculation of LCC (Article 67);
• Recognition (as in the current Directive) that contract conditions may
include social and environmental requirements (Article 70)
EU GPP Communication
Communication “Public procurement for a better environment” (COM (2008)
400)
• Indicative target of 50% Green Public Procurement (GPP) across EU by 2010
• Outlines the key tools to boost GPP across the EU:
• Common GPP criteria
• Use of life-cycle costing (LCC)
• Provision of clearer legal guidance on how to implement GPP
• 19 product and services currently covered – available in all EU languages
• Accompanied by a technical background document indicating how they were
developed
What help is available?
• European Commission: Buying Green! Handbook, second edition 2011:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/gpp/buying_handbook_en.htm
• European GPP criteria for 19 product and service groups
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/gpp/eu_gpp_criteria_en.htm
• Procura+ Manual – A guide to cost effective sustainable public
procurement:
http://www.procuraplus.org/en/about-procura/procura-manual/
ICLEI’s help
• The Procura+ Campaign: an initiative designed to help
support public authorities across Europe in implementing
sustainable procurement – and help promote their
achievements.
http://www.procuraplus.org
• Training: ICLEI carries out sustainable procurement training
activities across Europe, including an extensive training
programme for the German Environment Agency
From timber procurement to Sustainable
(Green) Public Procurement of wood
products...
a quick view at EU level
GPP policies for wood
products
GPP for timber
products in EU
countries (1/3)
Source: Oliver, 2009; Nielsen, 2011
GPP criteria for some wood
products
GPP for timber products in EU countries (2/3)
FRA
GER
BEL
DK
UK
NL
Compulsary Compulsary
Central/federal
governments
Compulsary
Compulsary
Compulsary
Compulsary
for paper
and wood
Local
Administration
Guidance &
promotion
Guidance &
promotion
Guidance
Guidance &
promotion
Guidance &
promotion
Guidance &
promotion
Up to 25%
Federal: 5%, Min 5-10 %
> in the other
Land
15-25%
(tropicale
timber)
Min 8%-15%
N/A
Procurement
share
Source: FFI, 2009; Nielsen, 2011
GPP for timber products in EU countries (3/3)
FRA
Requirements
Do de Gov.
Defines
procurement
criteria?
Legality with
preference for
sustainability
No
Source: FFI, 2009; Nielsen, 2011
GER
BEL
DK
UK
NL
Legality with Sustainabil.
Sustainability Sustainability preference for or FLEGT Sostenibilit.
sustainability
licenses
N.A.
YES
YES
YES
YES
PP an tropical timber
Tropical Timber consumption of EU countries
Source: IDH 2012
• 5-10% of all primary
tropical timber in the
world (excluding
secondary processed
timber) is imported by EU
countries
• The average of
government purchasing of
tropical timber is in the
range of 5-20% :
France 25%
Germany 5%
Belgium 10%
UK 15%.
Sustainable Public Procurement:
What‘s the potential in this country?