The second ad hoc working group meeting of the revision of the EU GPP criteria for Transport will be held by means of four interactive webinars as follows:

- 1st interactive webinar on 6 June 2017 from 9.30 to 12.00 (CET): Category 1 Cars, LCVs and L-category vehicles

- 2nd interactive webinar on 8 June 2017 from 14.30 to 17.00 (CET): Category 2 Mobility services and Category 7 Post, courier and moving services

- 3rd interactive webinar on 13 June 2017 from 10.30 to 13.00 (CET): Category 3 Purchase or lease of buses and Category 5 Purchase or lease of waste collection vehicles

- 4th interactive webinar on 14 June 2017 from 9.30 to 12.00 (CET): Category 4 Bus services and Category 6 Waste collection services

If you are interested in participating, please send an email indicating which webinars to JRC-IPTS-GPP-TRANSPORT@ec.europa.eu.

The eafip Workshop for public procurers in the sector of transport and mobility (ministries, regional and local authorities, agencies, public bodies, etc.) will be held at the Square – Brussels Meeting Centre in Brussels, Belgium on 16th June 2017. The aim of the event will be to highlight the benefits of innovation procurement of ICT solutions through the Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) and Public Procurement of Innovative Solutions (PPI) approaches across Europe, with a particular focus on transport and mobility.

The workshop is open to public contracting authorities who have a unique chance to openly discuss unmet procurement needs, innovation concepts, project ideas, and much more. All procurers have an opportunity to briefly present their ideas / plan / projects in the parallel sessions. Please note that this event will be held in English.

For more information on the event visit www.eafip.eu/events/workshops/transport/

The next Global Sustainability Standards Conference, organized by ISEAL Alliance, will be taking place in Zürich, 27 - 29 June 2017. The event will bring together more than 300 sustainability leaders and experts from business, government, NGOs and academia to discuss the future of standards and certification in delivering greater impact at scale.

The event will consist of a full day of sessions, an evening cocktail reception, and a ISEAL Community Day that will be entirely focused on driving innovations in standards systems. The event will also be holding the ISEAL AGM as well as a number of other associated meetings and workshops, including the Sustainability Standards Essentials Training.

Registration will open in January.

The 2nd Global Procurement Conference, launched by the University of Rome Tor Vergata, will take place in Rome from the 4 - 5 July 2017 and will address issues related to innovation, competitiveness, sustainability and regulation in procurement worldwide.

The goal of the Global Procurement Conference is to raise awareness for the planetary implications of joint decisions regarding what is purchased, how and for whom in the public domain.

The conference will present 16 speakers for 6 different topics, including Mark Hidson from ICLEI Europe, and Farid Yaker United from the Nations Environment Programme, for a session on the topic of “Sustainable Development Goals and Public Procurement”.

For more information on the event visit http://globalprocurement.org/

The PPI4Waste final conference will share the principal findings of the research, networking and training activities implemented during the project's lifetime to help increase the uptake of innovative waste solutions.

The one-day conference will have two main sessions. The first session will present the main findings of the PPI4Waste project and how public procurement of innovation (PPI) can be experimented and stimulated in the field of waste management. It will be followed by an afternoon session exploring synergies between procurers and projects on innovative solutions. A full programme and participant registration will be available shortly.

PPI4Waste is a three-year Horizon 2020 project involving eight partners and explores how innovative public procurement can be a key instrument in galvanising the market in order to foster sustainability, preserving and recycle material resources.

For more information, visit the PPI4Waste website.

The event will take place on the 19 of September in Brussels and invites all key stakeholders for lively discussion on the current framework for electric vehicles and to explore solutions to overcome market barriers whilst plugging the sustainability gap. The event will explore the need for flexible partnerships between diverse industries, such as telecommunication, energy providers, manufacturers, suppliers and retailers, to develop innovative solutions across all areas of EV policy and ensure Europe remains a driver of green growth and jobs.

The event includes a session dedicated to "Strategies for Investment, R&D and Public Procurement for Electric Vehicles" which will focus on the role public procurement can have in boosting clean vehicle demand.

For more details on the event and to register visit the event's webpage.

The European Sustainable Tropical Timber Coalition (STTC) Conference 2017 will be taking place the 21 September in Aarhus, Denmark. The event will offer the opportunity to learn how to sell the positive story that sustainably sourced tropical timber has to tell; to discuss the challenges, share knowledge and best practice with colleagues from across Europe. The event will gather STTC partners and participants, timber trade federations, timber traders, construction sector representatives, NGOs and other stakeholders.

The STTC Conference 2017 will consider ways of communicating the benefits of tropical timber use and best practice, looking at Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), the Sustainable Development Goals and Climate Change Mitigation. It will also be an opportunity to network with buyers, suppliers and specifiers.

The event is free of charge.

Please click here to register, and for more information please contact:

Joyce Penninkhof joyce.penninkhof@probos.nl, +31 (0) 317-466557 or

Kristian Jørgensen kristian@fsc.dk, +45 2887 7808

The German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) is holding a one-day workshop in Berlin entitled "Biodiversity aspects of Public Procurement" on 10 October 2017 from 09.30 - 17.30.

The event will focus on 5 public procurement product categories, specifically food and catering, textiles, paper products, and quarry products.

The programme includes contributions from Öko-Institut, Institut für Ökologische Wirtschaftsforschung and the German Ministry of the Environment. There will also be group discussions focusing on the five product categories.

Participation is free of charge and some budget is available for travel. The event will be held in German and participants can register by 15 September at at the BfN website.

On 19 October 2017, the second international Congress on Circular Procurement, co-organised by the European Commission (Directorate-General for the Environment), the Estonian Presidency of the EU, Rijkswaterstaat from the Netherlands and ICLEI- Local Governments for Sustainability will take place in Tallinn, Estonia.

The objectives of this congress are to:

- deepen knowledge and encourage implementation of circular procurement showcase good practices, latest research and tools

- stimulate unexperienced organisations to start with circular procurement

- discuss the role of circular procurement for innovation and meeting other policy goals

- encourage networking on circular procurement.

The congress targets:

- Policy makers for national and local governments and public bodies

- Public procurers and budget holders

- Companies involved in circular procurement.

The event is directly preceded by the Conference on Innovation Procurement, co-organised by the Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications and the Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology of the European Commission (EC) on 17 and 18 October 2017.

For more information and to register visit the event's webpage.

This live broadcast of the INTERREG NonHazCity project’s press conference will present the “fresh” findings from the substance screening at pilot municipalities around the Baltic Sea.

The project contributes to evidence collection of substance occurrence in the municipal sewage system and urban areas. It will help to develop strategies to reduce emissions from small scale urban sources: by influencing public procurement of the municipalities itself, by working with SMEs to substitute the substances in their working processes and sites and by an info campaign to the inhabitants on where the substances occur in every day’s live and how they can be avoided.

To follow the broadcast you can visit the project's website.