What EU Green Public Procurement (GPP) - European Commission Voluntary Criteria + Transition to Mandatory Sectoral Requirements requires
Green Public Procurement (GPP) is the European Commission's framework, managed by DG Environment, defined as a process whereby public authorities seek to procure goods, services and works with a reduced environmental impact throughout their life cycle when compared to goods, services and works with the same primary function that would otherwise be procured. The framework was operationalised by Commission Communication COM(2008) 400 ('Public procurement for a better environment') and is mainstreamed in EU procurement law through Directive 2014/24/EU (in particular Article 67 most economically advantageous tender, Article 68 life-cycle costing, Article 42 technical specifications referencing eco-labels under Article 43, and Article 18(2) on environmental, social and labour law compliance). DG Environment publishes voluntary GPP criteria sets for product and service groups (current criteria sets cover computers, monitors, tablets and smartphones; data centres, server rooms and cloud services; electricity; food catering services and vending machines; furniture; imaging equipment, consumables and print services; indoor cleaning services; office building design, construction and management; paints, varnishes and road markings; public space maintenance; road design, construction and maintenance; road lighting and traffic signals; road transport; and textile products and services; earlier criteria sets, including copying and graphic paper, sanitary tapware, and toilets and urinals, are published but marked outdated), structured at two levels: Core Criteria for any contracting authority and Comprehensive Criteria for authorities seeking best-in-class environmental performance. Each criteria set provides subject matter language, technical specifications, selection criteria, award criteria and contract performance clauses ready to drop into a tender notice. Following the 2020 Circular Economy Action Plan (COM(2020) 98), the Commission is transitioning from voluntary to minimum mandatory GPP requirements embedded in sectoral legislation: examples include the Clean Vehicles Directive 2019/1161 (mandatory minima for clean and zero-emission vehicles in public fleets), the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation 2024/1781 (mandatory GPP requirements per delegated act), and the Construction Products Regulation 2024/3110. GPP is voluntary at the framework level but becomes binding for contracting authorities once a sectoral instrument crosses it into mandatory minima.
Pillar: Public Sector & Government Procurement · Authority: European Commission - Directorate-General for Environment (DG ENV); operational legal anchors in Communication COM(2008) 400 and Directive 2014/24/EU (Articles 18(2), 42, 43, 67, 68); circular economy upgrade path in COM(2020) 98 (Circular Economy Action Plan) · Version: 1.1.0 · Last updated:
Primary source: https://green-forum.ec.europa.eu/green-business/green-public-procurement_en
SHA-256 integrity: 308d207006f3c926136043bf91a16bfa31d58fa81caeb51fa8e97cd547cd541c
Primary Citations — 6 traced to source
- European Commission Communication COM(2008) 400 final, Public procurement for a better environment, 16 July 2008, establishing the Green Public Procurement framework and the methodology for voluntary criteria sets at Core and Comprehensive level for product and service groups
- Directive 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on public procurement, Articles 18(2) mandatory compliance with environmental law, 42 technical specifications, 43 labels, 58 selection criteria, 67 most economically advantageous tender, 68 life-cycle costing, 70 contract performance clauses - the legal anchor articles that make voluntary GPP criteria operational in tenders
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