The aim of the event is to bring together decision makers, experts, scientists and practitioners from all over Europe to talk about the latest topics on green public procurement.

We will discuss how procurement practice can meet given goals of

• climate protection,
• circular economy,
• biodiversity,
• a non-toxic environment

Key issues will also be

• further challenges in green public procurement,
• best practices in cities and communities and
• exchange on product groups

The conference will be hosted by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), the German Environment Agency (UBA) and organised by the Berlin Energy Agency GmbH (BEA).

Learn more and register here.

October 2nd, 9:30 to 11am

Procurement is a powerful tool that helps public authorities meet their needs for products and services but offers the opportunity to drive the implementation of Agenda 2030. This can range from leveraging the power of procurement to achieve environmental goals, but also to foster fair working conditions, supporting gender-equality or marginalised groups, to improving conditions across a supply-chain in collaboration with industry.

This session explores the following questions: What are key challenges and drivers when getting started on socially responsible procurement? How can procurement be used to influence global supply-chains such as electronics? What are examples for the difference that socially responsible procurement made locally tackling social dumping? What are recommendations on how to leverage procurement for gender mainstreaming?

Confirmed speakers are: 

• Anna Lupi, Policy Officer, DG Grow Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs European Commission
• Elin Seveholt, Advisor Sustainable Procurement, Stavanger Kommune 
• Mercè Corrretja, General Director of Public Procurement, Government of Catalonia 
• Espen Nicolaysen, Head of Sustainable Procurement, City of Oslo 
• David Salomonsen, Head of CSR and Procurement Law, City of Copenhagen

Join the session during Mannheim2020 European Sustainable Cities and Towns Conference. Register here. 

This online seminar will include the European Commission’s views on the implementation of the 2014 package in the services sector and the way ahead, the presentation of the latest editions of “The Government Procurement Review” and, among others an intervention by Ms Mercè Corretja, Director for Public Procurement of the Generalitat de Catalunya on the 2018 Framework Agreement for cleaning services of the Catalan Government which was one of the finalists for the Procura+ Award for Sustainable Procurement of the Year 2019.

The seminar is organised by EBSA. Find more information here.

Registration by email to secretariat@servicealliance.eu

The event will explore the 'Innovation Partnership' - a new procedure introduced in 2016 in the EU legal framework. The webinar of 13 October will open a cycle of short webinars on the procedure. The European Commission will provide an overview of contracts and procedures concluded in the EU so far. Three buyers will share their experience with regard to the use of this innovative procedure which combines the development of innovative products or services and their procurement. 

More information will follow closer to the event. 

Register here by 1st October. Note: as the event is hosted by the European Commission you have to create an EU login account to be able to register.

This workshop, being held in the framework of the European Week of Regions and Cities, aims to inspire European, national, regional and local government officials and experts by exploring good practices examples of green and social sustainable procurement.

On behalf of the European Commission, ICLEI and AEIDL have written a report on good practices in socially responsible public procurement titled 'Making socially responsible public procurement work'. The publication delves into not only critical social aspects of public procurement, but also how procurement can foster sustainability via 'green' considerations. This workshop will focus specifically on these 'green' cases.

The event will include an introduction from AEIDL, as well as contributions from:

• Anna Lupi, Policy Officer, European Commission Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW)
• Rafael Hirt, Sustainable Economy and Procurement Officer, ICLEI Europe
• Aline De Cokere, Procurer, City of Ghent (Belgium)
• Ana Fe Félix Iglesias, Manager, La Encina (Spain)

Click here to register.

Join this action-oriented global discussion with leading cities and experts showcasing the power of procurement for taking climate action by integrating sustainability into their purchasing processes and decisions.

October 15th, 9.30-10.45am UTC+2

We invite you to engage in a high-level discussion exploring themes around the following questions:

• Why does sustainable purchasing matter for a city?
• How to leverage procurement towards the achievement of the Paris Agreement? How does climate-friendly procurement look like in your city?
• What are ambitious targets that leading cities around the world have set to achieve? What are the steps cities have taken to accelerate climate action through the city’s purchasing power?
• Amidst the COVID-19 crisis and recovery, how can procurement work for both economic recovery as well as continued sustainability efforts?
• How do local governments work with their suppliers for goods and services to create a market that supports innovation towards climate-friendly products and delivery of goods and services?
• How do you calculate and monitor the impact of procuring sustainably?

Register now!

Partners and supporters of the event are the Global Lead City Network on Sustainable Procurement and the One Planet Network Sustainable Procurement Programme.

The EU Cities for Fair and Ethical Trade Award 2021 Award Ceremony will take place on Friday 16 October 2020 from 10:30 AM to 13:00 PM (CET) in Ghent's City Hall.

Register now and follow Online the Award Ceremony live from Ghent.

Agenda:

10:30 –11:00: Welcome & Interventionsby DG Trade’s Executive Vice-President, Valdis Dombrovskis and ITC Executive Director, Pamela Coke-Hamilton

11:00 –11:25: Testimonies by the 2019 EU Cities Award-winning city Ghent and Ghent’s project partners in India

11:25 –12:00: Presentations by 2021 Shortlisted Cities

12:00 –12:15: Announcement of the winner of the EU Cities for Fair and Ethical Trade Award 2021

12:15 –13:00: Announcement of the Special Mentions

Background:

This new award, now in its second edition, was launched by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Trade. The Award covers sustainable, fair and ethical trade between EU cities and non-EU markets, showcasing how EU cities set an example for a values-based trade agenda through their own policies and activities.

Ashleigh McLennan from ICLEI is part of this years jury.

You can find more information on the shortlisted candidates here.

Attracting attention around the globe, EU Green Week is the biggest annual event on the European environment policy calendar. It's a forum for stakeholder debate at the European, national and local levels, generating input that feeds back into policymaking and implementation. And it is a truly European event – in addition to a high-level conference in Brussels, numerous events are organised by partner organisations across the whole of Europe. 

EU Green Week 2020 will focus on nature and biodiversity. All around the globe, biodiversity is disappearing as a result of unsustainable human activities. This loss is closely connected to climate change, and the combined effect of this unprecedented crisis is disrupting the ecosystems that support life on Earth, with devastating consequences for human well-being and prosperity. While the situation is extremely serious, there is still hope. Solutions exist, but they require deep and transformative changes in the way we produce, consume and trade.

Read more on the event website.

Public institutions spend a large portion of their budgets on the procurement of goods, services and works related to the service delivery of infrastructure. For example, public money is spent for the design and construction of new infrastructure, the continued operations and maintenance of existing infrastructure, the refurbishment and retrofitting of existing infrastructure, and/or the decommissioning of infrastructure that has reached its end-of-life.  

Why does this matter in the context of the climate crisis and post-COVID 19 recovery agendas? 

Embedding sustainability in strategic infrastructure planning and procurement processes can yield great benefits to organisations looking to reduce costs and achieve carbon neutrality goals. For example, public procurers must be able to understand, collate and assess the total costs of an infrastructure over its entire lifecycle - meaning not just the initial capital costs, but the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). 

This Deep Dive unpacks various approaches, tools and processes in public infrastructure procurement to achieve carbon neutrality. You will hear from the City of Helsinki (Finland), Western Cape Government (South Africa) as well as UNOPS. 

The session gives you the opportunity to 

• dive deep into best practices around carbon-neutral public infrastructure,
• engage with procurement peers from around the world,
• discuss how to practically apply for example TCO to also achieve climate and post-COVID 19 recovery targets.

Participants of this session might be interested in taking part in another Deep Dive session looking at climate action and food procurement  and high-level plenary session ‘Procurement Leadership means Climate Action’. 

The sessions are organised by ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability, and supported by the Global Lead City Network on Sustainable Procurement, Procura+ Africa and the One Planet Network Sustainable Procurement Programme. 

19. October - 12:00 - 13:15 UTC+2

Register now!

Although local and regional governments have considerable leverage over several facets of a city-region food system – from nutrition and health to economic development to land use and resource management – few of them integrate food in a cohesive manner across their different thematic departments, or maximize its potential in service of their constituencies. Sustainable food procurement, such as sustainable school meals, is a strategic instrument to address the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from climate action to regional value capturing. The recent FAO survey on the impact of the pandemia on food systems in cities listed the suspension of school meals highest (86%) – hence, the importance of sustainable school meals for resilient food systems.

This peer-to-peer exchange offers space for procurers and food policy officers to

• exchange on how to leverage sustainable procurement for the implementation of sustainable food system programmes
• discuss the opportunities of aligning climate action and COVID-19 recovery in the food sector
• learn about the challenges of localising supply chains and the associated obstacles of procurement regulation

Three speakers will share their hands-on experience from the USA and Europe. Afterwards, we invite you to share your own experience, ask questions and connect with one another.

Speakers:
Chantal Clément, Deputy Director, IPES-Food
Tamara Downs Schwei, Food Policy Coordinator, City of Minneapolis, Minnesota
Latha Swamy, Food Policy Director, City of New Haven
Peter Defrancesci, ICLEI
Gunilla Andersson, Project Manager, Environmental Department, City of Malmö

The session is linked to another Deep Dive session looking at climate action and construction procurement as well as a high-level plenary session ‘Procurement Leadership means Climate Action’. The sessions are organised by ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, and supported by the Global Lead City Network on Sustainable Procurement, Procura+ Africa , the One Planet Network Sustainable Procurement Programme and the CITYFOOD Network.

19. October 16:00 - 17:15 UTC+2

Register now!