Government aims to make public procurement greener

Wed 02 Dec 2009

The government has stressed the need to make its public procurement processes more environmentally friendly.

According to Ian Pearson, economic secretary to the Treasury, the government is always looking at ways of improving how it spends its budget on goods and services.

He said third party suppliers have a big part to play in delivering real change and helping to create a low carbon, resource efficient economy.

Mr Pearson said reforming its public procurement processes should enable the UK to remain a world leader in tackling climate change.

He was speaking after a report from the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) said carbon reduction strategies need to be better integrated with the organisational policies of suppliers.

According to the CDP, supply chain emissions account for the majority of a company's carbon footprint.

Leeds City Council has already placed an order for 20 alternative fuel vehicles in order to make its procurement processes less damaging to the environment.

The authority is one of six that is taking part in a pilot of the Lower Carbon Vehicle Public Procurement Programme.

Richard Tinham, a partner at Winckworth Sherwood, commented: "The increased emphasis placed on environmental issues in modern tender processes is encouraging.

"It is important though, that contracting authorities remain alert to the fact that the environmental issues taken into account for contract award purposes must relate to the subject matter of the contract."