Public Procurement and Property

Sustainable procurement answers ‘Mother Earth’s Call’

April 22, 2022 by Melissa Reilly No Comments | Category climate change, Environment, net zero, Scottish Procurement, Sustainability, Sustainable Procurement Tools, World Procurement Awards

Today (22 April) is World Earth Day! This year, the United Nations (UN)’s campaign tells us “Mother Earth is clearly urging a call to action.”

Nature is suffering. Oceans filling with plastic and turning more acidic. Extreme heat, wildfires and floods, as well as a record-breaking Atlantic hurricane season, have affected millions of people. Even these days, we are still facing COVID-19, a worldwide health pandemic linked to the health of our ecosystem.

Climate change, man-made changes to nature as well as crimes that disrupt biodiversity, such as deforestation, land-use change, intensified agriculture and livestock production or the growing illegal wildlife trade, can accelerate the speed of destruction of the planet.

Scotland has set an ambitious target, to become net zero by 2045, five years ahead of the rest of the UK. Public procurement plays a key role in supporting Scotland’s bold climate change targets. The Sustainable Procurement Duty prompts public bodies to consider carbon and energy consumption, resource efficiency and pollution during the procurement process.

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Public bodies should set out in their Annual Procurement Strategy how they will use procurement to contribute to the global climate emergency – and report progress in their annual Procurement reports. This is required to explicitly address climate change and circular economy obligations.

Our Sustainable Procurement Tools are freely available to use by all public sector bodies, plus third-sector and private sector organisations. We want everyone to benefit from the learning and resources available.

To date, the platform has been accessed by almost 2,000 registered users from over 380 organisations. The Climate Literacy eLearning has been completed by over 850 people from 74 organisations around the world.

We have recently added new resources to the tools, including:

• A new case studies section to share examples of best practice and lessons learned. Read more here to learn about how organisations across the public sector are embedding sustainability into their procurement process!
• Refreshed guidance on Climate Change Adaptation, Climate and Energy, and Carbon in Production. These resources provide relevant procurement guidance, aligned with the Procurement Journey and each includes an Annex of example contract clauses and key performance indicators. New, more user-friendly formatting means users can navigate easily between sections and can download the full guide into a Word document which can be printed and shared with relevant key stakeholders.

For our work in developing the tools, we have been shortlisted as a Finalist in the World Procurement Awards ‘Environmental & Social Impact Award’ category. Stay tuned on 15 June to find out if we are a winner!

For further information on public procurement in Scotland please visit www.gov.scot/procurement

Please email enquiries to scottishprocurement@gov.scot

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Tags: climate change, environmental benefits, Public procurement, Scottish Procurement, sustainable procurement, Sustainable Procurement Duty tools

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