TEPR projects: Green public procurement

One of the challenges with increasing the market share of clean vehicles is that they are often more expensive to buy than conventional petrol or diesel vehicles, even though they are often cheaper to use. Increasing the procurement of clean vehicles by the public sector has the potential to provide a market for these vehicles, while also enabling the public sector to buy vehicles that improve the local environment and reduce operational costs.    

In order to deliver the maximum potential impact on the market, it is beneficial for similar procurement approaches and standards to be applied in different countries. At the EU level, the Clean Vehicle Directive (Directive 2009/33) and the EU’s Green Public Procurement (GPP) Criteria for Transport provide a framework for the procurement of clean and sustainable vehicles in the EU.

TEPR has worked for the European Commission on various reports relating to the Clean Vehicle Directive (CVD), i.e.:

• Impact Assessment study for the review of Directive 2009/33 on the Promotion of Clean and Energy-Efficient Road Transport Vehicles, which involved a literature review, engagement with stakeholders and a quantitative assessment of the impacts of potential policy options to revise the CVD.
• Ex-post Evaluation of Directive 2009/33/EC on the promotion of clean and energy efficient road transport vehicles, which involved a literature review, stakeholder engagement and a qualitative and quantitative assessment of the impacts of the CVD.
• Monitoring Report of Directive 2009/33/EC on the promotion of clean and energy efficient road transport vehicles.  

TEPR has also supported the development of the European Commission’s Green Public Procurement (GPP) criteria for transport:

• Revision of the EU Green Public Procurement Criteria for Transport: Technical Report, which involved a policy analysis, literature review and stakeholder engagement. The subsequent GPP criteria, which were published in 2019, drew heavily on the Technical Report. The development of the GPP criteria was supported by a review of the wider legislative context.
• Support to the European Environmental Bureau in the development of the EEB’s comments on the 2020 revision of the GPP criteria. This involved a review of the Commission’s proposed amendments to the 2019 criteria in order to take account of the final text of the revised CVD.

The new GPP criteria were published in early 2019, while agreement has also been reached on the revised CVD (see TEPR’s blog).

Ian Skinner of TEPR is also a member of the City of London Corporation’s Social Value Panel, which advises the Corporation on improving the environmental and social performance of their public procurement.