Green Procurement

Green procurement is the public sector Practice of selecting suppliers based on a range of environmental criteria including, but not limited to, the environmental impacts of the supplier’s products or services, their commitment to reducing those impacts, and their compliance with relevant environmental regulations.

In many jurisdictions, there are specific legal requirements for government departments and agencies to consider environmental factors in their procurement processes. In some cases this includes mandatory requirements to give preference to environmentally preferable products or services, or to report on greenhouse gas emissions reductions achieved through green procurement. Other times it takes the form of voluntary guidelines or best practice principles.

The main objectives of green procurement are to:

* Reduce the overall environmental impacts of government operations;

* Shift government expenditure from polluting/non-renewable resources towards cleaner/renewable alternatives;

* Create market demand for cleaner/greener products and services; and

* Facilitate the transfer of appropriate environment friendly technologies.