Green Public Procurement
What is Green Public Procurement?
Green Public Procurement (GPP) is a process where public authorities seek to source goods, services or works with a reduced environmental impact. GPP is acknowledged as a vital policy lever in meeting environmental policy objectives.
The implementation of GPP has an important role to play in delivering Ireland’s environmental and wider sustainable development objectives. In April 2024 the government published Buying Greener: Green Public Procurement Strategy and Action Plan 2024-2027 to drive the implementation of green and circular procurement practices across the public sector.
What is the EPA doing?
The EPA has been actively supporting GPP implementation by:
- Providing national guidance and criteria sets for priority sectors.
- Reporting annually on GPP implementation by government departments.
- Hosting "GPP in Practice" events for public bodies and publishing case studies .
- Supported GPP training for public sector bodies (2020-2022) and provided online GPP training supports for suppliers.
The government's GPP policy "Buying Greener" published in 2024 sets out actions where the EPA will play a lead and supporting role in GPP implementation in the period to 2027.
Guidance for the Public Sector
The guidance and accompanying criteria support the inclusion of sustainable and green practices into public sector procurement procedures. They are aimed primarily at public sector procurers in central and local government, state agencies and other public bodies such as universities, hospitals and schools.
They are also relevant for utility sector procurers and may be of interest to private companies whether they are responding to tenders or applying green criteria in their own procurement. All criteria sets, with the exception of Office Buildings, have been fully updated to reflect legislation and policy in place as of April 2024. A review of the Office Buildings criteria will commence in quarter 3 2024.
The sectors covered are:
- Road transport, vehicles and services
- ICT products and services
- Food and catering services
- Indoor cleaning services
- Office buildings, design construction and management To be updated
- Indoor and Outdoor Lighting
- Heating Equipment
- Energy-related Products
- Paper products and printing services
- Textile products and services
- Furniture and related services* New
To facilitate use of these criteria, the Office of Government Procurement (OGP) has developed GPP Criteria Search. This online search tool allows the user to rapidly find, select, and download the GPP criteria relevant to a specific procurement. This tool was developed in collaboration with the EPA and the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, with support from the Public Service Innovation Fund.
Green Public Procurement Webinars:
- November 2025: Green Public Procurement in Practice, available to view at the following link: Green Public Procurement in Practice
- November 2024: National GPP guidance and criteria sets, available to view at the following link: Guidance & Criteria Set Updates.
Green Public Procurement Case Studies
The EPA has worked with public sector and semi-state bodies to develop practical case studies to showcase the implementation of green procurement in the Irish public sector. These case studies provide an insight into the challenges and opportunities of implementing green procurement as well as details of the criteria used.
The EPA will continue this engagement in 2025 and add to the list of case studies outlined below.
Training supports for suppliers
This video, aimed at suppliers of goods and services to the public sector in Ireland, provides a brief introduction to Green Public Procurement.
This training presentation link follows on from the introductory Green Public Procurement video and provides more detailed information for suppliers of goods and services to the public sector in Ireland. Its purpose is to provide all suppliers with background information, advice and practical tips on Green Public Procurement.
GPP Monitoring & Reporting
The Climate Action Plan 2019 assigned lead responsibility to the EPA for an action that Government Departments would measure and report on GPP on an annual basis, starting with calendar year 2020 (Action 148).
The EPA has published a report on GPP activity by Government Departments for reference year 2023. This is the fourth in a series. Previous reports are available to view below.
GPP activity by Government Departments for reference year 2022
GPP activity by Government Departments for reference year 2021
GPP activity by Government Departments for reference year 2020
Guidance & Template for reference year 2024 are available here.