Lately Bolder was part of another interesting project – for the Croatian Green Building Council, we promoted the first Guide on green public procurement. This guide provides examples of best practices in green public procurement in the construction of sustainable buildings in the countries of the European Union – Finland, Denmark, Italy and others.
In addition, the guide provides interesting numerical indicators: almost a quarter of a million of European public bodies annually spend about 14% of their total GDP on the procurement of services, works and supplies. It is well known that strategic public procurement offers great opportunities for stronger stimulation of the economy. Furthermore, buildings in Europe are responsible for 40 percent of energy consumption, 36 percent of CO2 emissions and 35 percent of generated waste. The conclusion is obvious: we need better quality buildings made of sustainable materials that will ensure higher energy efficiency, economic viability and environmental sustainability.
The project therefore encourages EU countries to adopt criteria in their national legislation to assess the sustainability of buildings, considering the entire life of the building from material production, construction, operational life of the building, deconstruction and demolition.
Green public procurement refers to three key indicators: life cycle assessment, life cycle costs and indoor air quality.
Finally, the Croatian Green Building Council proposed a further step and contribution to increase of sustainable construction. It has prepared Memorandum of Understanding for public authorities, cities, counties and private sector companies to include these measurable indicators in their procurement processes and thus contribute to human health and the environment.
The guide is available at the link: Life-Levels-Best-Practice-Guide-GPP_FINAL_compressed-1.pdf (lifelevels.eu)