Advantages and pitfalls of green public procurement as a European strategic tool

Title page 1

Contents 1

1. Green procurement in context: the regulatory and political landscape 2

2. Green public procurement as a lever for decarbonisation and strategic use 4

2.1. The procurement-decarbonisation link 6

3. The DAS trilemma 9

3.1. Budgetary and price stability in the presence of GPP 11

3.2. Geopolitics and GPP 15

4. The European Commission's reform goals 18

4.1. Overview of the Commission's procurement actions 18

4.2. Assessing consistency with the broader EU decarbonisation policies 20

5. Streamlining the European approach 21

References 24

Tables 4

Table 1. Public support for GPP 4

Table 2. A basic typology of GPP 6

Table 3. Implicit additional public expenditure (in percentage points of GDP) in various GPP scenarios 14

Figures 5

Figure 1. Total value of direct and indirect green procurement, 2013-2022 5

Figure 2a. Simultaneous importance of sectors in public procurement and CO₂ emissions 8

Figure 2b. Simultaneous importance of sectors in public procurement and CO₂ emissions (log scales) 8

Figure 3. The DAS trilemma 9

Figure 4. Theoretical avenues for price increases 12

Figure 5. Contract awards per sector by criterion, 2013-2022 13

Figure 6. Third-country bidders and award criteria 17

Figure 7. Shares of companies with third-country suppliers, by sector 18

Figure 8. EU reform timeline 19

Boxes 11

Box 1. The green premium 11