Harnessing Public Procurement for the Green Transition

United States

Framework, scope, action-plans

Executive Order 14057, Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal Sustainability (December 8, 2021) and the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 23 - Environment, Energy and Water Efficiency, Renewable Energy Technologies, Occupational Safety, and Drug-Free Workplace, last revised in 2021 constitute the US legal framework on GPP.

GPP is mentioned in national commitments on climate change: Executive Order 14057, Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal Sustainability (December 8, 2021).

Regarding co-ordination between environmental and GPP national commitments: Staff from the White House Council on Environmental Quality, Environmental Protection Agency, and other offices advise in the promulgation of sustainable acquisition regulations. The institution in charge of ensuring co-ordination is the Executive Office of the President.

Implementation

The US has mandatory requirements to use GPP for procurement for specific purchasing categories: energy-consuming products, products with recovered materials, biobased options, and products made with ozone-depleting substances. There are also policy preferences for the procurement for substitutes for products that contain perfluoroalkyl or polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and for categories listed within the Environmental Protection Agency's Recommendations of Specifications, Standards, and Ecolabels for Federal Purchasing. These preferences exist universally at the Federal level in the United States. States have their own procurement systems.

Regarding the existence of GPP targets, the US adopted targets for procurement and for specific purchasing categories at the Federal level.

Regarding GPP criteria: the FAR Part 23, Environment, Energy and Water Efficiency, Renewable Energy Technologies, Occupational Safety, and Drug-Free Workplace, includes direction to relevant solicitation provisions and contract clauses for relevant sustainable categories.

Measurement and impact

Public institutions in the US report through a digital platform linked to their e-procurement systems.

At the time of the Survey, the US do not have a standardised methodology to measure the impact of GPP on CO₂ emissions, however Executive Order 14030, Climate-Related Financial Risk (May 20, 2021) directed the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council to consider amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to ensure that major Federal agency procurements minimise the risk of climate change, including requiring the social cost of greenhouse gas emissions to be considered in procurement decisions and, where appropriate and feasible, give preference to bids and proposals from suppliers with a lower social cost of greenhouse gas emissions.

The US conduct an aggregated evaluation of impact of GPP at national level: energy reductions are tracked and there is a standard "Sustainability" procurement data report. This report displays actions and dollars for the "Recovered Materials/Sustainability" values. Actions with a foreign Place of Performance or a Claimant Program coded as Weapons are excluded from this report.

Recent developments

The Biden-Harris Administration proposed in August 2023 the Sustainable Procurement rule that will aid the ambition of net-zero emissions from Federal procurement by 2050. The Sustainable Procurement rule, a proposal by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Council, strengthens existing sustainable products requirements by directing Federal buyers to purchase sustainable products and services to the maximum extent possible. In particular, it directs agencies to follow EPA’s Recommendations of Specifications, Standards, and Ecolabels for Federal Purchasing, which provides recommendations across 34 purchase categories for use of 40 standards and labels, including labels such as EPA’s ENERGY STAR, Safer Choice, and WaterSense programmes. The proposal also protects public health by directing agencies to avoid the procurement of products containing perfluoroalkyl or polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) chemicals, known as “forever chemicals.” EPA’s Federal Purchasing Recommendations include thousands of American-made products and services that address energy or water efficiency, PFAS reduction or elimination, bio-based content, recycled content, ozone-safe substances, and more.