Green public procurement in Estonia

Hannes MädoThe Ministry of the Environmenthannes.mado@envir.ee

What is public procurement? Public procurement is the process by which government departments or agencies purchase goods and services from the private sector

Thresholds:

International thresholds:1. When Government is buying goods or services 125 000 EUR2. when local government is buying goods or services 193 000 EUR3. All procurers when buying building services 4 845 000 EUR

Estonian thresholds:1. All procurers, when buying goods and services 40 000 EUR2. All procurers, when buying building services 250 000 EUR

What is green public procurement (GPP)?

- Procedure where environmental considerations are taken into account within the procurement process.

Why use GPP? Some facts from EU GPP traning toolkit:- European public authorities spend each year over €1,800 billion on goods & services (14% -16 % of the GDP)- Directing this spending power towards the purchase of greener products and services can:- Achieve huge direct environmental benefits- Help drive the market for greener products and services- Set an example for corporate and private consumers

- If all European public authorities bought green electricity 18% of the Kyoto commitments could be met

- EU Public authorities buy 2.8 million computers annually - 12% of market. If the European market could be moved to producing slightly more efficient PCs then over 8 million tonnes CO2 could be saved - equivalent to the emissions of almost 1 million people

GPP doesn’t mean spending more money:- Life-cycle costing (LCC): Critical to consider the costs of a product/service throughout its useful life - purchase price, usage and maintenance costs, disposal costs- Efficient procurement: GPP involves meeting your needs with the most efficient use of resources - consider the real need to buy- Centralising: The City of Tübingen in Germany saved €30,000 per year by centralising cleaning product and service procurement and by using innovative products.

How it works?

- Most of the EU countrys have National Actoin plans, where the targets of gpp are set up. Usually GPP is not legally binding in Member States.

- European Commission has worked out GPP criterias for 19 product groups. (http://ec.europa.eu/environment/gpp/eu_gpp_criteria_en.htm)

Every product criteria has two stages:

1. Core criteria – set of minimum criterions that have to be included to tender documents

2. Comprehencive criteria – extra criterions for advanced procurers

Criteria for copyng and graphic paperCore criteria:

- Paper must be made from 100% recovered paper fibres. - Recovered paper fibres include both post-consumer recycled fibres and pre-consumer recycled fibres from paper mills, also known as broke. -Post-consumer recycled fibres may come from consumers, offices, printing houses, bookbinders, or similar.Verification:All products carrying any type I ecolabel, such as the EU Ecolabel can serve as means of proof if it is specified that the paper is made from 00% recovered paper fibres. Any other appropriate means of proof, such as a technical dossier of the manufacturer or a test report from a recognised body will also be accepted.

- The paper must be at least Elementary Chlorine Free (ECF). Totally Chlorine Free (TCF) will also be accepted.

Verification:All products carrying the EU Ecolabel will be deemed to comply. Other national type I ecolabels fulfilling the above criterion can also be accepted. Any other appropriate means of proof, such as a technical dossier of the manufacturer or a test report from a recognised body will also be accepted.

Criteria for copyng and graphic paperComprehencive criteria:- Paper must be made from 00% recovered paper fibres, with a minimum of 65% post-consumer recycled fibres. - Recovered paper fibres include both post-consumer recycled fibres and pre-consumer recycled fibres from paper mills, also known as broke. - Post-consumer recycled fibres may come from consumers, offices, printing houses, bookbinders, or similar.Verification:All products carrying a type I ecolabel, such as the EU Ecolabel, can serve as means of proof if it is specified that the paper is made from 100% recovered paper fibres. Any other appropriate means of proof, such as a technical dossier of the manufacturer or a test report from a recognised body will also be accepted.

- The ecological criteria of the EU Ecolabel, or other type I national ecolabels directly related to paper production (and not the management practices of the factory) must be met. Full criteria documents available at:• EU Ecolabel: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ecolabel/product/pg_copyingpaper_en.htm

Verification:All products carrying the EU Ecolabel will be deemed to comply. Other national type I ecolabels fulfilling the listed criteria can also be accepted Any other appropriate means of proof, such as a technical dossier of the manufacturer or a test report from a recognised body will also be accepted.

Current situation in EU:1. Updating criterias2. Harmonisig GPP criteria with Ecolabel requirements3. How to prioritize product croups for new criterias?4. New stage. SPP – sustainable public procuremet. (adding social and ethical criterions to public procurements)

Current situation in Estonia:

- Political stage – The Ministry of Finance- Practical side and enforcement – The Ministry of the Environment- nearly 20% of procurements are green - EU Criterias- Monitoring- Action plan?

For discussion:

- Shall GPP be legally binding? Shall it be written in law that using GPP must be mandatory?

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!