S USTA I NABLE SOCI ET Y
Sustainable environment
Sustainable transition Sustainable society
New platform for climate-adapted and circular procurement Incorporating clear environmental requirements during procurement is key to achieving reduced climate impact from products and services. In order to support the transition to a climate-adapted and circular economy, IVL, along with the innovation programme Re:Source and Återvinningsindustrierna, launched a website in June for public procurement with a lifecycle perspective. Procurement has been identified as a central tool in society’s transition to a circular economy. The National Procurement Strategy points out that a lifecycle perspective must be taken into account in public procurement, as a lack of an overall perspective may otherwise lead to incorrect initiatives and the absence of any impact on the climate. The government has also recently decided that it should be mandatory to stipulate climate demands in public procurement. However, more knowledge and practical guidance in this area are required. The new website provides knowledge, tips and advice to buyers and suppliers who work with, or want to start working with, climate-adapted and circular procurement. It also provides information about laws and regulations regarding procurement, what is happening on a political level and within the research world. The lifecycle perspective, i.e. considering the entire lifecycle of a product, extends from manufacturing to final waste management. The website explains concepts related to climate requirements, such as life cycle analyses (LCAs), product categories (PCR) and environmental product declarations (EPDs), as well as how these can be used to compare the climate performance of various products in a procurement context. Circular procurement is a relatively recent phenomenon that is not covered by current procurement regulations (LOU). There is therefore considerable demand for guidance and examples of how
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it should be applied in practice. Circular procurement also needs to be developed to take the lifecycle perspective into account. OPEN DATA BA SE W IT H PRO CU R EM EN T CR IT E R I A Climate-adapted and circular procurement is comparatively complicated because products are often made up of multiple materials, where each component may need to be considered separately. This leads to a large number of possible criteria. The website therefore includes an open, searchable database, called Kriterieklivet, which contains procurement criteria for various product groups and which can be used in the practical procurement work.
Public procurement is faced with perhaps its greatest challenge – to contribute to the sustainable transformation of society. We now need to concentrate on fossil-free and resource-efficient solutions in order to reach our climate goals. Read more at www.uphandling.ivl.se
