Step by Step Towards Mandatory Green Public Procurement

Abstract

Green Public Procurement (GPP) is one of the key environmental management tools to reach sustainable consumption patterns, drive innovation and widen the market for eco-technologies. GPP is when procurers take environmental issues into account when buying goods or services. Buying green is one of the most active and demonstrative ways of enhancing environmental protection; it is a tool that every individual, public authority and private company can use to promote and achieve sustainable consumption. This article will focus on defining a possible purchasing strategy for public authorities, which is using GPP. This paper presents a systematic approach model using GPP as a driver of sustainable consumption while highlighting the importance of its policy background. A short analysis of EU Member States' GPP action plans will also be introduced. The upcoming government act on GPP in Hungary will be presented with a practical example of green tendering by the National Bank of Hungary.

More Than a Nudge? Arguments and Tools for Mandating Green Public Procurement in the EU

“…While substantial scholarly attention has been given to considerations on the insertion of environmental concerns in public procurement practices [23], the EU legal framework, per se, as a matter of policy coherence and a disincentivising circumstance for sustainable procurement practices has received limited scholarly attention [24]. Although arguments for the need to mandate sustainable procurement practices has been present in the scholarship [25], they are of a more general nature and they have not addressed the legal uncertainty and complexity of the existing legal frameworks. The present work therefore aims to highlight the complex and interdependent nature of the EU freedoms and the public procurement legislation, especially the "link to subject matter" requirement that was developed by the Court of Justice and later inserted in EU legislation, negatively influencing the consideration of environmental conditions in public procurement across the EU.…”

Sustainability Indicators in Assessing Urban Transport Systems

“…Moreover Lendel and Varmus (2013) pointed out the innovation as a potential indicator, what is strongly related to corporations in transport industry and emission-reducing goals. Concerning the relation between decisions taken by companies, individuals or public authorities and environmental consequences, Diófási and Valkó (2014) and Kiss (2014) suggested stronger emphasis on green procurement and public participation in reaching sustainability by taking into account these approaches in everyday life. It can be noted that company-oriented indicators are almost completely lacking in reviewed literature, although companies are highly relevant stakeholders concerning sustainability issues in transportation sector.…”

Green Public Procurement in the Academic Literature

“…Barriers to the implementation of GPPs are lack of political support, legal expertise, practical tools and information, training, cooperation between authorities, limited environmental criteria for goods and services, higher costs, implementation in management systems, etc. (Arvidsson and Stage, 2012;Bala et al, 2008;Boström et al, 2015;Diófási and Valkó, 2014;Leal Filho et al, 2019;McMurray et al, 2014;Varnäs et al . 2009).…”

“…In general, the limits of the analysed researches refer to the sample size, the impossibility of the generalizability of data (Arvidsson and Stage, 2012;Bala et al, 2008;Diófási and Valkó, 2014;Faith-Ell, 2005;Mansi, 2015;Mashele and Chuchu, 2018;Leal Filho et al, 2019;Hall et al, 2016;Oruezabala and Rico, 2012;Pacheco-Blanco and Bastante-Ceca, 2016;Walker and Brammer, 2012;Young et al, 2016), how data is collected (Mansi, 2015;McMurray et al, 2014;Oruezabala and Rico, 2012;Pacheco-Blanco and Bastante-Ceca, 2016;Testa et al, 2012;Testa et al, 2016b;Young et al, 2016), lack of a customized approach depending on specific conditions (Aldenius and Khan, 2017;Arvidsson and Stage, 2012;Leal Filho et al, 2019;Oruezabala and Rico, 2012).…”