Harnessing Public Procurement for the Green Transition

Norway

Framework, scope, action-plans

In 2021, Norway has launched a new Action Plan to increase the proportion of green public procurement and green innovation for the period 2021 – 2030, and the Norwegian Agency for Public and Financial Management (DFØ) is responsible for the follow-up and updating of the action plan. A revision and update of the action plan is scheduled in 2024 and 2027.

The Action Plan aims at leveraging the role of public procurement to achieve 3 key objectives: minimise the public sector’s harmful environmental impacts, promote climate-friendly solutions and foster the transition to a circular economy, and steer the national and global supply chain towards greener production systems. Moreover, the Plan identifies a series of key actions for public procurement.

1. A requirement for all contracting authorities to promote solutions for zero or low-emissions and circular economy, as well as to avoid the use of chemicals that are hazardous to human health and the environments for certain priority categories: transport, construction, building and property, food and catering services, plastic products, ICT/electrical and electronic equipment, batteries, furniture and textile;

2. A green competence programme to boost capacity for GPP during 2021 - 2030;

3. Better access to statistics and data on green and innovative public procurement;

4. Definition of GPP targets for the transport, building and food sectors;

5. Increased collaboration across contracting authorities to develop and support the adoption of circular solutions in public procurement;

6. Research workstream on climate and environmentally friendly procurement;

7. DFØ to monitor GPP compliance, develop effective measures to improve implementation, and provide guidance on available financial support schemes to cover additional costs, manage risks and build capacity.

GPP is also mentioned in other national-level policies and strategies to promote reductions of emissions and the green transition, including the National Climate Plan and the Norwegian strategy for a green, circular economy.

Implementation

The 2016 Public Procurement Act (PPA) makes it mandatory for public authorities, across all levels of government, to consider the reduction of harmful environmental impacts and the promotion of climate-friendly solutions when conducting procurement. A specific provision also encourages setting the weighting of the award criterion “environment” at 30%, when used. In other words, the legal framework governing public procurement in Norway promotes the use of GPP throughout the entire procurement process, from qualification criteria to technical specifications, award criteria and contract performance clauses. Still, it is up to contracting authorities to make use of this regulatory leeway.

In addition to that, a specific regulation that entered into force from 1 January 2022 required public authorities to buy zero-emission personal vehicles and smaller vans (Forskrift om energi- og miljøkrav ved offentlig anskaffelse av kjøretøy til veitransport), with reference to the Clean Vehicle Directive 2009/33/EF. From 1 January 2023, this also applies to bigger vans.

To support GPP implementation, the Norwegian Agency for Public and Financial Management (DFØ) has developed sustainable criteria (e.g. green qualification criteria, technical specifications, award criteria and contract performance clauses) that are accessible via an online platform, the so-called criteria wizard. They cover product groups with large environmental impact, such as building and construction, transportation, waste collection and food and meal services.

Measurement and impact

Norway has not yet defined GPP-related targets in public procurement, other than having an action plan to increase the proportion of green public procurement and green innovation. DFØ conducts comprehensive assessments in several key areas: 1) the prerequisites for GPP by contracting authorities, 2) procurement practices, and 3) the climate and environmental impacts of these practices. To evaluate the implementation of GPP by contracting authorities in alignment with the action plan, DFØ undertakes a biennial public procurement survey. The findings from this survey are made accessible on our official website: Public Procurement Survey Results.

In order to investigate procurement practices and the integration of green criteria, DFØ systematically archives tenders and related documents. This repository enables detailed text analysis to be carried out, identifying environmental criteria across various sectors including construction, food and catering services, furniture, and others. The outcomes of these analyses are published on our website: Green Criteria in Public Procurement.

Specifically for the transport sector, DFØ measures the proportion of electric vehicles procured, utilising data from the national vehicle registry. This information is disseminated via our analytical tool, accessible here: Electric Vehicle Procurement Data.

To quantify the climate and environmental impacts of public procurements, DFØ publishes comprehensive reports detailing the public sector's climate footprint attributable to procurement activities. These reports, available at Public Sector Climate Footprint, offer insights into the generated climate footprint and its evolution over time. Furthermore, DFØ has developed a tool for estimating the governments, as well as individual governmental organisations', climate footprint in relation to procurement. This tool, which aids procurement managers in understanding the emission drivers in both domestic and international contexts, can be found here: Government Procurement Climate Footprint Tool. Additionally, the underlying climate data are available for use by environmental advisors and others in their analyses: Climate Data for Public Procurement.

Moreover, DFØ has developed various calculators to assist procurement officers in estimating the climate effects of incorporating environmental criteria into their procurement decisions. These calculators are sector-specific, covering areas such as transport (Transport Climate Effect Calculator), construction (Construction Climate Emissions Calculator), and food (Food Procurement Climate Calculator), and ICT equipment (ICT Equipment Lifecycle Extension Calculator).

Recent developments

From 1 January 2024, a new regulatory change will establish more stringent requirements to ensure climate and environmental considerations in public procurement in Norway. This entails a new main rule where contracting authorities must weigh climate and environmental considerations with a minimum of thirty percent in the award criteria. If the contracting authority lists the award criteria in decreasing order of importance, climate and environmental considerations should be listed among the top three criteria. As an alternative such award criteria can be replaced with climate and environmental considerations in the technical specifications if this has a better effect on the environment and the climate, and this is justified in the procurement documents.

The obligation to impose criteria in accordance with this provision does not apply if the procurement by its nature has a climate footprint and an environmental burden that is insignificant, and this is justified in the procurement documents.

Furthermore, a committee appointed by the Norwegian government, with a mandate to revise the Norwegian public procurement legislation, published a Norwegian Official Report (NOU 2023: 26) in November of 2024. The Committee proposes several comprehensive modifications to the legislation, including simplification of the procurement process for contracts under the EU/EEA threshold values and changes to the overall structure of the legislation. Regarding sustainability, the committee has proposed new provisions regulating climate and environmental considerations in public procurement, deviating from the above-mentioned requirement of thirty percent weighting in the award criteria. The committee proposes to add the promotion of sustainability to the legislation’s objective, to add a provision requiring economic operators to conduct climate and environmental mapping, and an obligation for contracting authorities to apply climate and environmental criteria if they have a tangible effect and does not entail disproportionate additional cost.

The Report was presented for public consultation on 10 November 2023, with a deadline of 10 February 2024. The committee is expected to publish a second report in the spring of 2024. The Norwegian Government has announced a plan of adapting a new public procurement framework based on these reports by the end of the current parliamentary term, concluding in the autumn of 2025.