Public procurement wields enormous purchasing power, accounting for an average of 12 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in OECD countries, and up to 30 percent of GDP in many developing countries. Leveraging this purchasing power by promoting public procurement practices that are sustainable, in accordance with national policies and priorities, plays a key role in achieving Sustainable Consumption and Production (SDG 12) and in addressing the three pillars of Sustainable Development.
The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has been active in the promotion of Sustainable Public Procurement at national, regional and global levels since 2005. If you would like to receive regular updates on the most interesting sustainable procurement news, please sign up for SPP News here.
Global action
- Data collection for the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12.7.1 Indicator. UNEP, as custodian to SDG 12.7.1 indicator, is collecting contributions and data from national and sub-national governments. A report in English and Chinese and webinars in English and in French on the outcome of the first data collection conducted between October 2020 and February 2021 have been produced.
- One Planet Programme on Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP): The One Planet SPP programme is a global multi-stakeholder platform of 130+ partners which supports the implementation of SPP around the world. UNEP is a co-lead of the Program and is in charge of the Monitoring Interest Group.
- Global Review of SPP: UNEP reviews every 4 years the state of SPP implementation at world level. Challenges and trends are also analyzed in the reports. Since 2017, supplementary factsheets describe the progress of the most advanced countries. See 2013, 2017 and 2022 (Parts I and II) Global Reviews of SPP and 2023 and 2017 Factsheets on Sustainable Public Procurement in National Governments.
- SPP Implementation Guidelines: UNEP has developed a methodology to assist countries design and implement SPP policies. See the second edition of SPP Guidelines (2021) and Terms of references/questionnaires for the main activities.
- International directory of Sustainable Public Procurement criteria. For examples of SPP criteria around the world download our International directory of SPP criteria.
Promotion of regional cooperation in the field of Sustainable or Green Public Procurement
- Asia Pacific Green Public Procurement (GPP) Network (2020-2022)
This project, funded by and co-led with Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute, aims at enhancing GPP knowledge-sharing and networking in the Asia-Pacific region, with a view to stimulate markets for eco-friendly products and services. Activities include the organization of webinars (videos and contents from the webinars can be accessed here), the development of GPP case studies and country factsheets. More information here.
Membership is open to organizations or individuals interested in contributing to the progress of GPP in the Asia-Pacific region. Interested? Join us by filling your application form here. - Compras Sostenibles is an online platform dedicated to SPP implementation in Latin America.
- The LAC working group aims to to support countries in Latin America with the monitoring of 12.7.1 and promote SPP implementation. Two workshops have been hosted so far- one to introduce the 12.7.1 Indicator and its methodology, accessible here, and another to present the resources linked to SPP (training, manuals etc.) developed by the Organization of American States (OAS), accessible here.
Country-level capacity-building and policy-making support
Assistance provided to member states in SPP policy development/implementation
- EU4Environment project (2019-2022): Assistance provided to Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia in SPP policy development, SPP implementation and capacity building.
- OECS - UNEP Project (2020-2021): Support to Grenada, Antigua y Barbuda and Dominica in the sustainable procurement of construction materials.
- Support provided to national states in SPP policy development/implementation (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, India and Senegal), in partnership with other international organizations.
- Find a list of outputs produced by the countries supported by UNEP since 2009 here.
