{"id":3525,"date":"2022-04-22T11:44:59","date_gmt":"2022-04-22T10:44:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/public-procurement\/?p=3525"},"modified":"2022-04-22T11:44:59","modified_gmt":"2022-04-22T10:44:59","slug":"sustainable-procurement-answers-mother-earths-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/public-procurement\/2022\/04\/22\/sustainable-procurement-answers-mother-earths-call\/","title":{"rendered":"Sustainable procurement answers \u2018Mother Earth\u2019s Call\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today (22 April) is World Earth Day!<\/a> This year, the United Nations (UN)\u2019s campaign tells us \u201cMother Earth is clearly urging a call to action.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/em><\/p>\n

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.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Scotland has set an ambitious target, to become net zero by 2045,<\/a> five years ahead of the rest of the UK. Public procurement plays a key role in supporting Scotland\u2019s bold climate change targets. The Sustainable Procurement Duty<\/a> prompts public bodies to consider carbon and energy consumption, resource efficiency and pollution during the procurement process.<\/p>\n

\"Earth

Jacob_09\/Shutterstock.com<\/p><\/div>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Our Sustainable Procurement Tools<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

We have recently added new resources to the tools, including:<\/p>\n