Sustainable public procurement : current status and environmental impacts : knowledge to support policymaking

The current challenges affecting the EU food system call for an urgent shift towards more sustainability. In this context, voluntary Green public procurement criteria (GPP), referring to the environmental dimension, exist at EU level since 2008. Sustainable public procurement (SPP) could play a key role in shaping production and consumption trends by coherently integrating the economic, environmental and social sustainability dimensions. This report analyses the current uptake of voluntary GPP criteria (including national implementation) and their environmental impact, and considers the potential environmental impact of possible SPP measures. Available data show that there is a positive, but very heterogeneous, trend in GPP uptake in the EU. Current GPP criteria address all environmental impacts, although focused on climate change and biodiversity loss. Being voluntary, the effectiveness of the GPP measures put in place is hard to estimate as public authorities are free to set the thresholds for each criteria. Findings from literature show that countries and municipalities strongly support purchasing organic and certified products, food waste reduction measures and plant-based menus in catering. SPP criteria would provide environmental benefits resulting from a wider uptake of environmental criteria together with the promotion of plant-based diets.