A Transatlantic Analysis of EU and U.S. Strategies In 'Green Procurement'

Abstract

As governments the world over move to reduce global warming, public procurement has become an increasingly important means of leveraging governments’ vast purchasing power to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through “green” or environmentally sustainable procurement. This article reviews emerging strategies in green procurement in the European Union and the United States. The article notes that those green procurement strategies are remarkably consistent on both sides of the Atlantic, from sector-specific preferences for low-carbon products to eco-labels to life-cycle cost analyses which take into account broader environmental impacts. On both sides of the Atlantic, however, parallel problems have emerged as well. While initial efforts have been made to force firms to chronicle their products’ and services’ GHG emissions so that those emissions can be assessed (including in awarding contracts), those efforts have faltered politically in both the United States and the European Union because of the high costs of implementation. These initial results from both continents suggest that while green procurement can evolve in parallel around the world, using common strategies and devices, the costs of implementation — until now, a largely overlooked variable — may play a critical role in deciding which environmentally sustainable strategies are likeliest to succeed, at least in the short run.

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Keywords: Public procurement, sustainability

JEL Classification: F18, H57, Q58