A new food strategy designed to create a just and sustainable food system is being implemented in the City of Vancouver (Canada). The strategy aims to make nutritious, locally produced food easily accessible to all members of the community, and to revaluate the way in which food is grown and distributed. It is expected that the strategy will positively contribute to the city’s social, environmental, economic, and health goals.

Amongst other initiatives, the strategy encourages the use of urban streetscapes for food production, promoting a shift from ornamental to edible plant life. The strategy also aims to involve communities in the food system to a greater degree. Current food distribution channels are to be reassessed, with an emphasis on local markets as an alternative to large scale supermarkets. A reduction in food waste is also foreseen as part of the strategy, as is an increase in the beneficial reuse of discarded food.

The city will achieve its aims through legal changes, updating land regulation policies, organising grant programmes, and through partnering with relevant community organisations. Vancouver has also adopted a corporate procurement policy that embeds sustainability and ethical considerations into the procurement process. To be considered, suppliers must meet the city's minimum requirements related to ethical, social, and environmental standards as set out in the Vancouver Supplier Code of Conduct.

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Interested stakeholders are invited to fill in a questionnaire on furniture standards to aid in the revision of the EU furniture criteria, including the Ecolabel criteria for wooden furniture and the Green Public Procurement criteria for furniture. Ecolabel stimulates the production and consumption of more environmentally friendly products and services and is awarded only to the best environmentally performing products on the market.

The revision process aims to obtain simplified criteria, addressing the most important environmental impacts of the furniture from a life cycle perspective. A scoping document has also been released, which discusses preliminary findings and presents the proposal. The stakeholder consultation forms one of the most important steps in the revision process.

The draft criteria will be discussed with stakeholders at the first Ad Hoc Working Group meeting in autumn 2013. Respondents are requested to submit the questionnaire by Friday 17 May 2013 to JRC-IPTS-FURNITURE@ec.europa.eu.

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HAPPI (Healthy Ageing - Public Procurement of Innovations) is a European project which aims to identify innovative products and services in the field of “ageing well”. Funded by the European Commission, HAPPI addresses the challenges of the demographic change in Europe by putting in place procurement contracts that will benefit healthcare organisations, hospital staff, the elderly and their families.

The HAPPI project website will keep industry and healthcare professionals informed about the project and key events, including information days to be held in major European cities from September 2013, starting in London (United Kingdom). The website also provides manufacturers, suppliers and healthcare organisations with detailed information on the project, its objectives, milestones and members. Additionally, it allows manufacturers and suppliers to register their interest in the project and receive updates.

From September 2013, suppliers and manufacturers will be able to access an online platform via the HAPPI website where they will have the opportunity to confidentially submit information on their innovative solutions for caring for an ageing society and maintaining health in old age. Before this, they can register their expressions of interest in the project on the website. The HAPPI project is run by 11 strategic partners from seven European countries that are a mixture of healthcare central purchasing organisations, innovation and SME experts and academics. The HAPPI project is also on twitter - follow the project at www.twitter.com/HAPPI_Project.

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A panel of international experts have been chosen to head ICLEI’s Procura+ Campaign, Europe’s foremost campaign to encourage sustainable procurement at the local level. The three candidates were chosen based on their commitment in the field of sustainable public procurement. The appointees will lead the Campaign from 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2015. Pekka Sauri, Deputy Mayor of the City of Helsinki (Finland), returns as the Chair of Procura+.

Mercè Rius I Serra was appointed Vice Chair, along with Deputy Mayor of the City of Malmö (Sweden) Lari Pitkä-Kangas. Deputy President for Environment of the Province of Barcelona (Spain), Ms. Rius i Serra has been heavily involved in the issue of green public procurement throughout her political career. Mr. Pitkä-Kangas has a great deal of experience in implementing sustainable procurement policies in a municipal context, and a particular interest in sustainable development. Each Chair will act as an ambassador for the Campaign.

Speaking on his role, Pekka Sauri said: "Public spending represents almost one fifth of GDP in the European Union - clearly, responsible public procurement represents a tremendous opportunity, not only to make our societies more sustainable, but also to ensure social justice and fair treatment. I'm delighted to be reappointed chair of the Procura+ Campaign, and look forward to continuing to support its work in mainstreaming sustainable public procurement across Europe and encouraging exchange amongst public authorities.” Pekka Sauri continued: “In this time of EU procurement directive reform, it is my belief that the Campaign can send a strong message to Europe on the importance of Sustainable Public Procurement.”

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Fair and safe working conditions in global supply chains are still a distant prospect. More than 700 workers were killed last week when an unstable factory building in Bangladesh collapsed. Just five months previously, over 100 workers died when they were unable to escape a fire in a garment factory in Dhaka (Bangladesh). Seven months ago a fire in a textile factory in Karachi (Pakistan) killed almost 300 workers, who found themselves trapped due to locked exits and bars across the factory windows. On the same day in the Pakistani City of Lahore 25 people were killed in a shoe factory in similar circumstances.

While large accidents like these shock the western world, most human rights violations occur further along the supply chains of the products we consume and never make it to the media. The LANDMARK project is trying to go beyond the short term outcry that large accidents cause. It highlights practical mechanisms for procurers to ensure fair working conditions throughout supply chains, verifying compliance with the ILO core conventions in particular.

LANDMARK’s Legal and Practical guide helps public procurers to decide how to include social criteria in their purchases in compliance with EU Procurement rules. The Good Practice case study collection provides examples of how a variety of public authorities have achieved this. High risk product categories featured in these publications, which are each available in seven languages, include textiles, construction materials, food and sports equipment.

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British cleaning products manufacturer Delphis Eco has been awarded the 2012 EU Ecolabel Communication Award in the category of "business to business". The award applauds the efforts of Ecolabel certified companies that have launched initiatives to increase public awareness and knowledge about the EU Ecolabel.

To better promote their accreditation, Delphis Eco created a campaign titled “Green up your Cleaning”. The campaign was targeted towards regional and national distributors, schools and universities, policy makers, and partnership bodies. The company also used the accreditation to improve their market positioning and to achieve greater environmental benefits.

After being certified with the prestigious label, the company benefited from a 50 percent growth in sales and greatly increased web traffic. Clients of Delphis Eco include such high profile businesses as Waitrose, Wimpy, Sainsbury’s, and Iceland. The company has also secured international distribution relationships in France, South Africa, the Middle East, Hong Kong, and Eastern Europe.

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The conference “Socially responsible public procurement of work wear: challenges and opportunities at EU level” took place in the European Parliament on 9 April 2013. The event was hosted by two Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) that are highly active in the field, Åsa Westlund and Marc Tarabella. Ms. Westlund insisted on the important role of labels to certify compliance with the requirements set by public authorities, while Mr. Tarabella recalled the Parliaments’ concerns about the sustainability of the cotton supply chain and the working conditions in garment factories.

Mr. Tarabella also stated that in Europe, public procurement represents nearly half of the work wear market, valued at 4 billion Euros. The first intervention came from Carole Crabbé from achACT who presented the “Manual for socially responsible public procurement: work and promotional wear”, addressed to local authorities that want to include social criteria in their public tenders. This presentation was followed by Bettina Musiolek, author of the report “Made in Macedonia” about working conditions in the garment factories in the FYROM. Strong emphasis was placed on the difficulties to control the textile supply chain.

Hendrine Stelwagen, Business Development Manager at the Fair Wear Foundation explained the difficulty of governments when relying on verification schemes. The last intervention was made by the Fair Trade Advocacy Office on behalf of the Network for Sustainable Development in Public Procurement. The demands of this network towards the future Directive on public procurement were presented. There was a strong focus on the need to ensure legal clarity and consistency throughout the future procurement legislation to facilitate the introduction of social criteria. A debate with the public followed.

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A pilot study into heating systems led by the Joint Research Centre is calling for stakeholders to take part in the consultation process. Stakeholders can provide input in a number of ways, including through responding to questionnaires and participating in stakeholder meetings.

A revised version of the technical report for the development of European Ecolabel Criteria for Hydronic Heaters is now available online. In order to ensure that all comments are fully considered, stakeholders are asked to submit them before Friday 26 April to: rocio.rodriguez-quintero@ec.europa.eu

The project will develop an evidence base from which EU policy making in the area of heating systems can be developed. This includes defining EU Ecolabel and Green Public Procurement criteria, as well as informing Ecodesign requirements. It will also ensure that any outcomes are in line with the approach of the European Commission, resulting in greater policy coherence and compatibility and improved efficiency. In order to take part, stakeholders must register their interest. Those registered are regularly informed of the project’s progress.

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A new website for responsible buying has been launched in the region of Champagne-Ardenne (France). Both professional and private buyers can use the site to find responsibly produced products and services. The website lists 150 enterprises from the social and solidarity economy (organisations that address societal injustices), most of whom are taking part in a reintegration programme aimed at helping unemployed, disabled or otherwise vulnerable persons rejoin professional life.

In addition to the search tools for enterprises and practical information on how to buy responsibly, the website also includes background information and news. Through the website, the regional government aims to increase the volume of business carried out by enterprises from the social and solidarity economy, and to consolidate or even create jobs in this field. They also seek to support buyers to become responsible "consum'actors" (consumers as activists).

The website has been launched by the regional chamber of social economy of Champagne-Ardenne (CRESCA) together with the reintegration programme networks (réseaux de l'IAE), the regional council, the regional directorate for enterprise, competition, consumption, work and employment (DIRECCTE) and the mutual insurance company for French traders and industrialists (Macif).

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A webinar on procuring sustainable construction projects will be held on April 23 as part of the EU Helpdesk on GPP.

The Webinar will provide good practice examples of innovative and sustainable construction and give an update on the development process for EU green public procurement (GPP) criteria for office buildings.

Participation is open to all. Register your attendance now by writing to gpp-helpdesk@iclei.org.

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