From Green Vision to Legal Obligation: The Case for Making Green Public Procurement Mandatory

Abstract

EU public procurement is most likely the most important part of the internal market since public authorities’ purchasing power accounts for more than 14% of EU GDP and can serve as a powerful driver of demand and for sustainable products. This is where a compelling concept that holds the key to a greener future of Europe comes into play: Green Public Procurement (GPP). As a unique instrument of EU law, it most prominently encourages Member States’ public authorities to make environmentally responsible choices in public procurement procedures. Therefore, recently, there has been a push for a horizontal general applicable mandate for GPP in EU public procurement law, while under the current framework, this has been of a rather voluntary nature. Nevertheless, mandatory GPP requirements have been introduced for certain sectors, advocating a more strategic and outcome-oriented approach to public purchasing. The present contribution analyses the legal framework of EU GPP. Based on current developments, it maps out and explains the approach towards more strategic and outcome-oriented purchasing. It goes on to elaborate on the ability and effectiveness of the regime of mandating GPP in horizontal and sectoral legislation to achieve environmentally friendly public purchases, and identifies the feasibility and consequences of such a mandate. Finally, it argues for a sectoral approach to mandating GPP.

Keywords: EU public procurement, green public procurement, sustainability, mandatory GPP, sectoral approach.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3935/cyelp.19.2023.519

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution − Non-Commercial − No Derivatives 4.0 International License.

Suggested citation: I Böttge, H Kumpar Zidanič and A Tzamalikou, ‘From Green Vision to Legal Obligation: The Case for Making Green Public Procurement Mandatory’ (2023) 19 CYELP 249.