Partnership for Green Public Procurement

The Partnership for Green Public Procurement is a collaborative effort of public organisations who are committed to making extra efforts in partnership with other organisations to reduce their environmental impact from their procurement actions and drive the market in a greener direction.

In 2006, the Ministry of the Environment and the three largest municipalities, Copenhagen, Aarhus and Odense entered into the Partnership for Green Public Procurement. Since then other municipalities and regions have joined the partnership. It now includes 12 municipalities as well as two regions, a Danish water and wastewater company and the Ministry of the Environment and Food.

The Danish municipalities are responsible for the majority – approximately two thirds – of public procurement. As authority bodies close to the Danish public, municipalities are well placed to lead the way in buying the most environmentally friendly products. Green procurement is not only beneficial to our health and surroundings, in many cases it is also advantageous in terms of economy and public relations.

The work of the Partnership is constructively and openly aimed at developing concrete procurement objectives that will make a difference to the environment, locally as well as globally. The procurement objectives constitute a guide for municipalities wanting to incorporate environmental requirements in their procurement practices. Moreover, the Partnership is an important forum for sharing knowledge and procurement solutions.

The Partnership is based on joint, mandatory procurement objectives. It strives to renew previous objectives and to formulate new objectives each year – objectives with a positive effect on global and local environment.

The main stimulus behind the partnership is the potential impact it can have on the market: the more partners involved, the greater the procurement volume and the greater the impact on the market. Use of the same green criteria will also make it easier for the market to meet the procurement needs of the contracting bodies. 

Obligations under the Partnership:

• to follow jointly specified green procurement objectives
• to have a procurement policy in which environmental concerns play a significant part
• to publish the procurement policy on the respective authority's website

Read more about the Partnership for Green Public Procurement at www.gronneindkob.dk .