Decarbonisation in Procurement
- WHO: Municipality of Amsterdam (the Green Office, the Transport & Public Space Directorate and the Department of Engineering), Climate Alliance The Netherlands (Program Management), City of Paris, Climate Alliance Luxembourg (associate partner), Strasbourg Eurometropolis, Climate Agency of Strasbourg Eurometropolis, City of Wiesbaden, Metropolitan aera of Essen, Climate Alliance Germany, Green Metropolis Region Arnhem & Nijmegen, HIER Climate Agency (formerly SKAO), Flux 50 (Belgium), South East Energy Agency (Ireland).
- WHERE: North West Europa
- TIMELINE: 46 Months, Startdate March 2023
- AMSTERDAM'S ROLE IN THE PROJECT: Amsterdam is a partner in this European program of a budget of 5.8 million, of which 3.5 million is an ERDF subsidy.
- SUBSIDY FOR AMSTERDAM: ERDF- subsidy € 370.000, in-kind contribution of € 247.000
The DeCarb-Pro program is aimed at reducing CO2 emissions in purchased products (scope 3 emissions) by local authorities. Public procurement has a significant influence on CO2 emissions in North West Europe: 15% or 230 million tons of CO2 (2020) is emitted mainly under the responsibility of local authorities. Without low-carbon procurement, local authorities in North West Europe are unlikely to achieve the EU reduction targets for 2030 and their required contribution to the ambitions of the EU Green Deal. The most drastic scope 3 emission reductions can be achieved when purchasing products in the field of infrastructure, construction and energy.
Still public procurement in Europe is often dominated by prices. By using carbon pricing in tenders, local authorites ask companies to compete on products and services with the lowest emissions for the best price. Ultimately resulting in lower overall emissions. A carbon pricing strategy is rarely implemented by local authorities, due to a lack of instruments, knowledge and standardised procedures.
The partnership in this program of local authorities, energy agencies, city networks and market partners from nearly all countries in North West Europe will develop a strategic approach to carbon pricing for procurement, applicable to all local authorities in North West Europe. The developed instruments are tested and validated in pilot tender projects in the 3 sectors; infrastructure, construction and energy. The pilots will lead to concrete emission reduction results and will act as showcases for other local authorities. Internal and external training programs will be developed and implemented for the development of all parties interested. This enables local authorities to commit, implement CO2 pricing in their tenders and contribute to reducing CO2 emissions.
Local authorities throughout North West Europe face the same purchasing challenges. Transnational cooperation facilitates rapid adoption in the countries of North West Europe: the partnership builds on the previous experience of Dutch and French participating partners in the field of CO2 pricing. Transnational cooperation develops carbon pricing for viable widespread use and supports the necessary widespread adoption and implementation in North West Europe.
Endproducts:
The program has three phases. In the first phase, existing methods for CO2 pricing, experiences and opportunities are inventoried and strategies are developed appropriate to the size of a local authority. In a second phase, these strategies are tested, evaluated and reported. In the third and final phase, internal and external training programs are set up and an overview is given of what preconditions need to be set, in order to apply the than proven methods throughout North West Europe.
The deliverables to which Amsterdam contributes are:
- An inventory of experiences and opportunities for CO2 pricing in purchasing in regions with a similar size to that of Amsterdam (Paris, Essen).
- An inventory of possibilities for integrating CO2 pricing into local government procurement procedures, taking into account the needs of governments of different sizes.
- A draft strategic approach for CO2 pricing in tender procedures.
- A toolbox filled with methods and instruments to include CO2 pricing in purchasing by local authorities.
- Report(s) on pilot projects in the field of carbon budgeting and CO2 pricing in the planning, design and procurement phases for large local authorities.
- Evaluation reports of the pilot projects.
- Integrating CO2 pricing into the purchasing activities of the own organization with internal training for all involved.
- Determination of necessary activities for creating the right preconditions for broadly supported CO2 pricing in North West Europe.
- Implementation scheme for multi-year activities for the consolidation of CO2 pricing in tenders in North West Europe.
Contact information: Mark van den Putte (m.van.den.putte@amsterdam.nl)