PUBLIC PROCUREMENT NEWS

  

News

16 October 2018

Towards circular public procurement: let’s learn together

It is tricky to transform the enthusiasm about a sustainable concept such as the circular economy into governmental regulation and legislation, finds a new article by Jo-Anne St. Godard. Institutional inertia and administrative fragmentation do not necessarily blow new wind for the sail.

From a Canadian perspective, the article highlights that the structural and sectoral fragmentation in public bodies increases the lack of awareness on topics that need non-siloed thinking to realize a transition to the circular economy.

The article emphasizes that an approach to the rescue would be to learn from other existing cases, especially from the European examples. Organisations such as ICLEI provide knowledge transfer, capacity building through collaboration, and guidance that can help implement new paradigms such as Circular Public Procurement (CPP). In 2017, a guiding report was published - read it here.

Despite being a powerful tool in and of itself, integrative institutional structures and regulations need to enable CPP. Policymakers, therefore, must provide suitable conditions for circular procurement to expand.

To learn more about the work of ICLEI click here and to read the full article click here.