Balancing competing policy demands: the case of sustainable public sector food procurement

Abstract

This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. 2 Balancing competing policy demands: the case of sustainable public sector food procurement. Abstract A focus on market--based green growth strategies to pursue sustainability goals neglects the pursuit of understanding how human health is interwoven with the health of eco--systems to deliver sustainability goals. The article argues that clarifying the difference between green and sustainable public sector food procurement, with political continuity that supports and enables policymakers and practitioners to take an incremental approach to change, makes an important contribution to delivering more sustainable food systems and better public health nutrition. Five European case studies demonstrate the reality of devising and implementing innovative approaches to sustainable public sector food procurement and the effects of cultural and political framings. How legislation is enacted at the national level and interpreted at the local level is a key driver for sustainable procurement. Transition is dependent on political will and leadership and an infrastructure that can balance the economic, environmental and social drivers to effect change. The development of systems and indicators to measure change, reforms to EU directives on procurement, and the relationship between green growth strategies and sustainable diets are also discussed. The findings show the need to explore how consistent definitions for green public procurement and sustainable public procurement can be refined and standardized in order to support governments at all levels in reviewing and analysing their current food procurement strategies and practices to improve sustainability. Permanent repository linkKey words: Sustainable public procurement; green growth strategies; public health nutrition; sustainable diets; EU procurement regulation; urban and regional governments. IntroductionRecognising that food purchasing and catering services, including those in hospitals, care homes, schools, prisons and state companies etc., represent a significant part of public sector procurement budgets, the central premise of this article is that there is a need for clarity about what is meant by 'green' public sector food procurement and 'sustainable' public sector food procurement. The dominant economic paradigm has led to a growing focus on market--based green growth strategies to pursue sustainability goals and, it is argued, an ecological shift is required in order to further understanding of how human health is interwoven with the health of eco--systems, and to enable policymakers and practitioners to move towards creating more sustainable food systems and better public health nutrition.Public sector procurement, representing all of the goods and services purchased with public money, represents 13 to 20 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in OECD countries, including 17 percent of the EU's GDP (Evans et al, 2010), while in developing cou...

Modelling, assessing, and ranking public procurement options for a climate-friendly catering service

“…Such forces can converge on best practices that are usually defined as sustainable public procurement (SPP) (Smith et al 2016). For example, the progressive reduction of meat consumption can satisfy both environmental and public heath pressures; however, the reduction of meat consumption could economically affect the livestock sector.…”

“…Consequently, it is necessary to evaluate the economic, social, and environmental effects of different SPP practices. SPP practices encompass all three pillars of sustainability; when only the environmental aspects are considered, it is more correct to refer to green public procurement (GPP) (Smith et al 2016).…”

“…It is therefore necessary to properly investigate policy options to reduce the impact of this phase. According to several other studies (Caputo et al 2014;Jungbluth et al 2016;Smith et al 2016), two GPP options can be taken by owners of a catering service to reduce impacts from the agricultural phase of consumed foods: (I) the choice of foods from different production practices, in particular the substitution of conventional foods with one produced according to organic production practices, and (II) reducing meat consumption. Another option is to focus on purchasing seasonal produce, but this is primarily a logistical issue that will be discussed in the following section.…”

“…An organic equivalent was estimated for all proxy foods, except for codfish and tuna, for which data on organic fisheries were not available. In addition to organic certification, certification for sustainable fishing is also a possible GPP option (Smith et al 2016); however, no standardised data or LCA-based EPDs are available for such products. For the quantification of the potential CF reduction of this policy, two alternatives to the baseline scenario were considered: the first with 50% of all food procured from organic farms and the second with 100% of all food procured from organic farms.…”

“…For some authors (Roy et al 2009;Smith et al 2016), it is considered one of the most important factors to be controlled in order to achieve sustainable food consumption. For other authors the impact of long distances is less relevant than storage (Mila i Canals et al 2007) or the efficiency of agricultural practices (Jungbluth et al 2016).…”