Green procurement

Green procurement means buying goods and services by considering their environmental performance over their entire life cycle, alongside criteria such as price, availability, quality and performance. The Government of Canada sets out this approach on its green procurement page.

The federal government describes green goods and services as those with a lesser or reduced life-cycle environmental impact than competing goods or services serving the same purpose. The approach uses life-cycle assessment principles and can address greenhouse gas emissions, embodied carbon, waste, packaging, clean technologies and other environmental impacts, as described in the government's progress report on greening procurement.

The federal policy framework behind green procurement

In Canada, the term is established through the Policy on Green Procurement, the Directive on the Management of Procurement, the Greening Government Strategy and the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy. The Policy on Green Procurement applies to all federal government procurement activities. It requires environmental-performance considerations to be embedded in procurement decisions alongside price, performance, quality and availability, according to the CanadaBuys buyer's guide.

The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat leads implementation. Its Centre for Greening Government coordinates green-procurement commitments under the Greening Government Strategy and the policy. Public Services and Procurement Canada supports the policy as the federal common-service procurement provider. It offers environmentally preferable options, creates shared procurement instruments, develops standard procurement language and supports clean-technology procurement, as outlined on its green procurement tools page.

Other governments take similar steps. NATO reports that some Allied governments have introduced environmental criteria for procuring different types of products and services, as noted in its climate change and security best practices document.

Greenhouse gas disclosure and life-cycle assessment reports

The federal Standard on the Disclosure of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and the Setting of Reduction Targets applies to federal organizations subject to the Policy on Green Procurement and to procurements over $25 million. It requires suppliers to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and set reduction targets through Canada's Net-Zero Challenge or an equivalent initiative or standard. The requirements are described on the Treasury Board page on other procurement progress.

CanadaBuys guidance states that buyers may address the standard through mandatory or point-rated evaluation criteria, certification requirements or a conditionally limited solicitation process. Relevant clauses must be included in the resulting contracts. The guidance is published in the CanadaBuys section on the Policy on Green Procurement.

The Greening Government Strategy provides for suppliers to submit greenhouse gas life-cycle assessment reports as deliverables for high-value procurements, beginning in 2025. The implementation plan also identifies climate-resilience criteria for high-value procurements and critical services.

Examples of green requirements in federal buying

• Low-carbon goods and energy: The Greening Government Strategy includes purchasing zero-emission vehicles, clean electricity and low-carbon fuels as examples of green procurement.
• Packaging: PSPC-administered procurements for goods requiring packaging must include environmentally preferable packaging specifications in solicitation and contractual documents, as confirmed in a CanadaBuys policy notification.
• Standing offers and supply arrangements: Federal procurement instruments and their call-ups incorporate environmental considerations and green requirements.

What green procurement means for suppliers bidding on Canadian public contracts

Suppliers should expect environmental performance to sit beside price and quality in federal evaluations. Bid teams should read each solicitation for environmental criteria, certification requirements and contract clauses, since buyers can make them mandatory or point-rated.

On procurements over $25 million, suppliers need to be ready to disclose greenhouse gas emissions and show reduction targets through the Net-Zero Challenge or an equivalent initiative or standard, as set out in the Treasury Board guidance. On high-value work, a greenhouse gas life-cycle assessment report may be a required deliverable. Suppliers of packaged goods should prepare environmentally preferable packaging specifications for PSPC-administered bids.