Sustainable public procurement: current status and environmental impacts

The current challenges affecting the EU food system call for an urgent shift towards more sustainability. In this context, voluntary Green public procurement criteria (GPP), referring to the environmental dimension, exist at EU level since 2008. Sustainable public procurement (SPP) could play a key role in shaping production and consumption trends by coherently integrating the economic, environmental and social sustainability dimensions. 

This report analyses the current uptake of voluntary GPP criteria (including national implementation) and their environmental impact and considers the potential environmental impact of possible SPP measures. Available data show that there is a positive, but very heterogeneous, trend in GPP uptake in the EU.