The ‘Korea-Europe Twin City Dialogue on Sustainable Public Procurement’ gave a unique opportunity to a small group of local governments. Procura+ participants City of Helsinki, Catalonia Government and the City of Oslo met online with Korean local governments Gyeonggi Province, Daejeon Metropolitan City and Busan Metropolitan City. The aim of the exchange was to discuss with each other approaches to sustainable procurement and to build strategic alliances between cities that are leaders in using procurement as a tool to achieve sustainability targets. 

Gyeonggi Province & Catalonia Government 

In the webinar, the Korean province shared how they aim to implement GPP in cooperation with 31 local governments in its region. The province has encouraged GPP through establishing regular monitoring and awards. Representatives from the Catalonia Government emphasised their leadership on socially responsible procurement and their recent efforts using procurement towards a circular economy. 

Daejeon Metropolitan City & City of Helsinki 

The twinning between Daejeon and Helsinki included sharing targets, best practices and challenges on topics such as zero-emission construction sites or how to enable a green consumption culture in all city departments. Representatives from Daejeon city emphasised their work on procuring recycled construction materials. Drawing from Helsinki’s circular and sharing economy roadmap, representatives shared their plans on introducing new criteria that take into account life-cycle and emission perspectives. 

Busan Metropolitan City & city of Oslo 

In the dialogue with representatives from Oslo, staff from Busan city shared their Procurement Screening System, which measures the share of GPP in the overall procurement spend. 95% reduction in emissions by 2030 - Oslo has set this ambitious target, operating with the world’s first climate budget. City staff shared their recent achievements of sustainable procurement such as zero-emission deliveries of goods and services as well as their leadership on zero-emission construction sites. 

The twin city dialogue was supported by KEITI, ICLEI Korea Office and ICLEI Europe. Building on the fruitful round of first dialogues, the aim is to continue the exchanges as a means to strengthen local governments role for sustainable consumption and production.