Harnessing Public Procurement for the Green Transition

Korea

Framework, scope, action-plans

The Republic of Korea has the Act on the promotion of purchase of green products, based on which GPP issues are tackled. The purpose of this Act is to prevent waste of resources and environmental pollution and contribute to the reduction of the greenhouse gas emission and the sustainable development of the national economy by encouraging purchase of green products. (Article1)

The Act was last revised in 2021.

To attain net-zero emissions, Korea has established and implemented the Framework Act on carbon neutrality and green growth for coping with climate crisis. According to Article 5, public institutions are required to purchase green products first in order to transition to a carbon-neutral society and refer to the GPP policy.

Both environmental and GPP policies are co-ordinated under the Act on the promotion of purchase of green products and the ‘green’ concept is well reflected in procurement procedures for the environmentally friendly implementation of public procurement.

The Korean Ministry of environment ensures co-ordination between environmental and GPP priorities.

Implementation

Korea has mandatory requirements to use GPP at all levels of government: When public institutions intend to purchase any product, they shall purchase a green product with a few exceptions (Article 6 of the Act on the promotion of purchase of green products)

Korea also adopted targets in terms of share of procurement subject to GPP at all levels of government: ‘The master plan for encouraging purchase of green products’ sets the target amount for purchasing green products. Accordingly, public institutions set its own target in terms of market share on ‘the purchasing plan of green products’.

Regarding the existence of GPP criteria: Article 2-2 of the Act on the promotion of purchase of green products」 specifically stipulates the scope of green products subject to priority purchase by public institutions. In addition, the public procurement service has provided minimum-requirement guidelines of green products for 100 product categories.

Measurement and impact

Contracting authorities in Korea report on GPP spend through a digital platform linked to the eProcurement system. The Republic of Korea is a front-runner in the use of electronic procurement systems and digital platforms for GPP monitoring. The early implementation of the Korean Online E-Procurement System (KONEPS), KONEPS e-shopping malls, KEITI’s Green Procurement Information System (GPIS-I) and the most recent developments of the Public Procurement Data System enable the automatic collection of GPP data across all levels of government.

The national government monitors GPP across 40 000 different procuring entities, mainly through the GPIS-I online monitoring system. It also provides graphic representations of the organisations’ GPP plans, records and environmental benefits. The system monitors two key GPP-indicators: The number of agencies submitting GPP implementation plans and performance reports and purchases of green products (e.g. units and expenditure on ecolabel products, percentage of green purchases compared to total expenditure in priority product groups). Moreover, the central government, local governments, and public education authorities now produce annual procurement records through their online accounting systems that can be directly integrated into GPIS-I.