Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand discuss making green public procurement mandatory
- Making green public procurement (GPP) mandatory for public authorities will create market demand for green products and services benefiting both consumers and the environment.
- Prerequisites for the policy are clear goals and strategies, supporting regulations, and collaboration between stakeholders.
- 60 Representatives from four Southeast Asian countries took part in exchanging experiences and good practices on the topic.
Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand recently discussed practices to make green public procurement mandatory, which would contribute to sustainable consumption and production (SCP) in the Southeast Asian region.
In the last decade, governments from many countries have been driving the GPP policy. However, most measures are not mandatory, which has resulted in less effective implementation and created little impact. As public authorities have high purchasing power in terms of both budget and amount spent, if governments are to make GPP mandatory, the industry will need to adapt to produce more green products and services. The production standard will be higher to adjust to those needs e.g., sustainable use of natural resources and reduced use of chemicals. Eventually, consumers will be able to purchase better quality, environmentally friendly products and services with the use of ecolabelling and through sustainable production processes.
On 22 April 2024, 60 representatives from Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand attended the regional peer learning event “Make Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) Mandatory” at Grande Centre Point Sukhumvit 55 Hotel in Bangkok. Stakeholders from the Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Finance, Public Procurement Agencies and relevant organisations shared their experiences on the topic with other countries.
Opening remarks were given by Surin Worakijthamrong, Deputy Director, Pollution Control Department
“Our common goal is to establish the mandatory implementation of GPP,” said Surin Worakijthamrong, Deputy Director of the Pollution Control Department, in his opening remarks. “Each country has valuable experiences and practices. International cooperation will help accelerate the change and create greater impacts.”
Dr Ulf Jaekel, Head of Division T III 2 European and International Adaption to Climate Change, German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV)
“Initially, Germany implemented GPP on a voluntary basis but has gradually shifted towards mandatory measures because the government considers the SCP sector one of the mechanisms to achieve carbon neutrality targets,” noted Dr Ulf Jaekel, Head of Division T III 2 European and International Adaption to Climate Change, German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) in his introductory address.
Ashleigh McLennan, Researcher with Öko-Institut, emphasised the success factors and prerequisites of making GPP mandatory. These are cooperation between stakeholders; clear goals and strategies at the policy level; adapted procurement regulations; equipping procurers with sufficient capacity development measures; available green products and services in the market; supporting measures and maintaining healthy competition among suppliers; monitoring and evaluation of GPP performance; and effective communication to relevant actors on the benefits of making GPP mandatory.
Each country presented their existing polices and measures to make GPP mandatory. They also shared their potential action plans to develop more tools and measures to support this initiative. All four countries reviewed their status quo and learned from each other in order to adapt some practices and experiences to their own context appropriately.
Representatives from four countries took part in the self-introduction activity at the event
About the Scaling SCP project
The Scaling SCP project aims to establish climate- and resource-friendly product standards and consumption patterns to contribute to resource conservation and the reduction of GHG emissions, using SPP and eco-labelling. The project is financed by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) and is being implemented from January 2022 to December 2024 in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.
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Mr. Kai Hofmann
Project Director of Scaling SCP
Email:kai.hofmann1(at)giz.de