Public procurement holds key potential in shaping food systems towards sustainability and promoting population health. Using life-cycle based approaches, we evaluated environmental, social, and economic hotspots of existing procurement criteria across Member States, identified priority areas for improvement, and contributed to providing a EU-wide guidance that supports a systemic and multidimensional understanding of food sustainability.

Green Public Procurement: the first step

Released in 2019, voluntary Green Public Procurement (GPP) criteria allow to support environmental goals in public tenders. Also defined as "public procurement for a better environment", it is the 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.

In 2024, we analysed the uptake of voluntary GPP criteria, their environmental impact as well as strategies that were already in place in the EU.
 

Sustainable Public Procurement

Public procurement holds key potential in shaping food systems towards sustainability and promoting population health. Since 2008, voluntary Green Public Procurement (GPP) criteria allow to support environmental goals at Member State level. We analysed the uptake of voluntary GPP criteria, their environmental impact as well as existing strategies integrating environmental, social and economic dimensions into Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP). We then systematically mapped existing public procurement criteria through an assessment framework informed by Life Cycle Thinking.

On this basis and relying on highly interdisciplinary work, we then took a step further and included other sustainability dimensions, such as nutrition and animal welfare, to create a comprehensive set of public procurement criteria for food, food services, and vending machines. Building on the best practices and tools available in the EU, our new report on Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) sets out a series of sustainability criteria that can be used by relevant authorities when drafting public bids. Such criteria encompass an all-round concept of sustainability, including environmental, social, economic and also health aspects. The ultimate aim is to promote healthier and more sustainable food options across the board.