Green purchasing around the globe

Governments and other institutions around the world have adopted green purchasing as a way to reduce the human health, environmental and social impacts of routine purchasing decisions. Purchasers around the globe have adopted remarkably similar approaches to integrate these considerations into standardized purchasing practices, have encountered remarkably similar challenges in their efforts to do so, and are beginning to build common solutions collaboratively to make green purchasing even easier.

This article highlights some trends and examples gathered from recent reports and conferences on international green purchasing efforts (sources listed at the end).

Defining green purchasing

In the United States and in other countries that first adopted green purchasing in the late 1980s and early 1990s, green purchasing began with a narrow focus on buying products made from recycled content or that are more energy- or water-efficient.

As the science of product life cycle assessment matured, highlighting the significant environmental impacts throughout the manufacturing, use, and disposal of products, purchasers began expanding the definition and practice of green purchasing to reflect the full range of potential impacts. They began considering the total energy used to make a product, the environmental impacts of mining or harvesting the raw materials, the hazardous materials found within products, the energy, water, and indoor air quality emissions associated with using a product and the impacts of product disposal. They also considered social impacts such as the manufacturing conditions in which workers make a product, the wages they are paid, the use of child-labor and other issues.

As green purchasing evolved, a variety of related terms was introduced to capture the broader considerations. Purchasers around the world have adopted terms such as:

• Green Public Procurement (GPP)
• Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP)
• Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP)
• Socially Responsible Procurement
• Responsible Purchasing
•  Ethical Purchasing
• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Procurement
• Sustainable Purchasing

All of the terms share a common set of principles that can be summarized with the following definition: Green purchasing is the intentional practice of buying goods and services that generate human health, environmental, and social benefit and that are produced and delivered in ways that minimize human health, environmental, and social damage while continuing to balance concerns about the product or service’s price, performance and availability.

Global activities

More than 50 countries around the world have national requirements to buy greener products and services. Even more have green purchasing activities at the national, state or municipal level. Here are a few highlights from around the world:

Europe: A 2011 study of 230,000 European government contracts signed in 2009/2010 concluded that 55 percent included at least one core green purchasing requirement and that 26 percent included all of the European Union’s green purchasing elements. The 28 members of the European Union are governed by the EU Public Procurement Directives of 2004, which require governments to adopt green purchasing policies. The EU has identified 10 priority sectors: construction; food and catering services; transportation; energy; computers and other office equipment; clothing and uniforms; paper and printing; furniture; cleaning products; and health sector equipment. The EU is also developing common green purchasing requirements for 19 product groups and has published a “Buying Green Handbook.”

India: As India continues its rapid modernization efforts, green purchasing is growing in importance. A proposed 2012 law to formalize government procurement processes addresses purchase price, the costs of operating and maintaining products and product performance, including an explicit reference to the environmental characteristics of the products. India has an active Green Purchasing Network and is launching an India Green Building Council to develop green building standards. Indian companies are certifying products to international green standards to meet internal and international demand. Godrej, India’s largest furniture manufacturer, for example, has certified products to the UL GREENGUARD indoor air quality standard to meet demand from hotels, hospitals and consumers in India and its customers abroad.

Japan: In 2000, Japan passed its first green purchasing law requiring the federal and local governments to buy greener products and services. The resulting policies identified 246 items in 19 product and service categories covered by the law, including paper, office furniture, office machines, phones, appliances, air conditioners, water heaters, vehicles, fire extinguishers, clothing, buildings and public works projects. One-hundred percent of Japanese federal government’s purchases, 88 percent of cities’, and 68 percent of towns’ and villages’ purchases are reported to meet the requirements. In 1996, Japan also launched the world’s first Green Purchasing Network (GPN) to promote green purchasing throughout the country. GPN Japan has 2,920 members from 2,381 businesses, 286 government agencies, and 300 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that have pledged to buy greener products. GPN Japan has also produced a database of more than 15,000 products in 17 categories so purchasers can compare purchases against the requirements of the Green Purchasing Law.

Thailand: A 2008 resolution in Thailand requires the government to buy greener products and services based on a lifecycle evaluation of competing products. It encourages the use of products certified by the Thai Green Label, which includes 58 standards in 22 product categories. Government purchases of Thai Green Label-certified products includes items such as paper, printers and printer cartridges, envelopes, pens, lights, paints, copy machines, furniture and batteries.

United States: U.S. green purchasing requirements date to the “buy recycled” requirements introduced in 1984 revisions to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). They have expanded regularly through additional legislation and Executive Orders. Executive Order 13514, signed in 2009, mandates that 95 percent of all federal government contracts require products and services that are energy- and water-efficient, bio-based, environmentally preferable, nonozone depleting, and contain recycled-content, non-toxic or less-toxic materials where practicable. More than half of the states and many cities and counties throughout the country have adopted related green purchasing requirements.