Greening State Framework Contracts Approaches In The Nordic Countries

Green Public Procurement, GPP, can be an important driver of green transition – and must be dealt with accordingly. All five Nordic countries have established framework contracts at state level and have allocated the responsibility for the State Framework Contracts (SFC) to certain organisations: • Denmark: Moderniseringsstyrelsen and SKI • Finland: Hansel Ltd • Iceland: Rikiskaup • Sweden: Kammarkollegiet • Norway: DiFi, HINAS. The roles of these units differ, partly due to differences in the overall national structure. This is a short Summary Report with key findings and conclusions based on the Full Report (TN2016:506), which includes detailed country studies. The study was carried through in 2014 and 2015 and supervised by the Working Group for Sustainable Consumption and Production (i.e. HKP-group) of the Nordic Council of Ministers.

The purpose of this study was to clear out how Green Public Procurement has been realized in state framework contracts in the Nordic countries, to propose country-specific ways to improve the situation, and to draw a general model of efficient ways to realize green state framework contracts. The study was carried through in 2014 and 2015 by Bjørn Bauer and Rikke Fischer-Bogason (PlanMiljø, Denmark), Luitzen de Boer and Sigurd Vildåsen (Norwegian University of Science and Technology), and Timo Kivistö (Kivistö Consulting, Finland). The study was supervised by the Working Group of Nordic Council of Ministers for Sustainable Consumption and Production (i.e. HKP-group). In addition to this Full Report, the project has also resulted in a short Summary Report and a power point presentation (slides), including the key findings and conclusions.

As the largest economy in Europe, Germany has a massive public procurement market, accounting for around 15% of GDP (EUR 500 billion) per year and affecting many areas of the economy and society.

This report provides a framework for circular procurement and discusses its possibilities to promote circular economy. Several best practice examples in Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Norway illustrate how and in which sectors and product groups circular procurement could be applicable. Different approaches to circular procurement and tendering criteria supporting circular aspects are also illustrated.The study was carried out in Nordic co-operation by Finnish Environment Institute, IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute and Copenhagen Resource Institute. The project was financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers (NCM), administrated by the NCM Sustainable Consumption and Production Working Group and guided by a steering group consisting representatives from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

The Nordic countries rank high in international reports of nations' progress towards the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Along with other industrialised countries, however, the Nordic countries have been ranked poorly in their progress towards SDG 12, which concerns Sustainable Consumption and Production. This report looks closer at the Nordic countries' main challenges in achieving SDG12 and sets out recommendations for Nordic collaboration to tackle these.