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Basic Concepts

On this page you can find clarification of the various concepts associated with sustainable procurement, as well as the benefits it brings.

What are the basic concepts associated with Sustainable Procurement?

In order to understand the concept of sustainable procurement more clearly, let’s first look at the definition of procurement. Public procurement is the acquisition by the state and other public organisations of goods and services necessary for the performance of their duties. In Portugal, public procurement is regulated by the Public Contracts Code, approved by Decree-Law 18/2008 of 29 January.

Once the concept of procurement has been clarified, it is necessary to clarify the concept of sustainability and understand how the two can intersect.

The concept of sustainability can be seen in the well-known concept of sustainable development, defined by the United Nations:
Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, ensuring a balance between economic growth, care for the environment and social well-being.
Sustainable Procurement integrates requirements, specificities and criteria that are compatible with and in favour of environmental protection, social progress and support for economic development, namely by seeking resource efficiency, improving the quality of products and services and, ultimately, optimising costs.

Green Public Procurement

Green Public Procurement is defined by the European Commission as Public Procurement for a Better Environment. It is a process by which public authorities seek to acquire 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 acquired.

Low Carbon Public Procurement

This approach focuses on the contribution of procurement to achieving climate policy objectives, and can be defined as the process by which organisations seek to acquire products, services, works and utilities with a reduced carbon footprint throughout their life cycle and/or leading to a reduction in the organisation’s carbon footprint, considering direct and indirect emissions.

Public Procurement Circulars

This approach to procurement recognises the role that public authorities can play in supporting the transition to a circular economy. This concept is defined as the process through which “public entities purchase works, products or services that contribute to closing the energy and material cycles in supply chains, minimising, or preferably avoiding, negative environmental impacts and the production of waste throughout their entire life cycle”.

Socially Responsible Public Procurement

It aims to achieve positive social outcomes in public procurement. This approach can promote employment opportunities, upskilling and reskilling of labour, decent work, social inclusion, gender equality and non-discrimination, accessibility, ethical trade, as well as seeking to achieve greater compliance with social standards.

Public Procurement for Innovation

Public innovation procurement (PIP) refers to the purchase of the development of new solutions (products, services or processes that do not yet exist) or innovative solutions (with substantially new characteristics) that are entering the market. In this case, innovation procurement aims to open up possibilities for innovation at the level of products, services, organisational processes (the way the procurement process is organised) and social innovation (the way the product/service is designed and delivered).

Why green shopping?

Sustainable public procurement drives innovation and encourages the development of greener products and services. They also enable savings by considering the entire cost cycle and better prepare authorities to face environmental challenges.

Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Green public procurement reduces CO2 emissions through efficient construction and transport, as well as choosing products and services with a lower carbon footprint.