New study finds that in Finland, the consumption of raw materials is notably high both in relation to gross domestic product and per capita. In 2015, public procurement consumed 19.5 megatonnes of raw materials, whereas households consumed 64.8 megatonnes.

The study by the Finnish Environment Institute analysed the life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions and raw material consumption of public procurement and household consumption in Finland. The method used in the analysis was the environmentally extended input–output model ENVIMAT, which was supplemented with statistics on public procurement.

The carbon footprint of Finnish public procurement was 8.3 million tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent in 2015. Government procurement accounted for 21%, municipal procurement accounted for 57% and joint municipal authority procurement accounted for 22% of the total carbon footprint of public procurement.

The types of procurement expenditure with the highest emissions were heating and electricity, construction and maintenance services for buildings and areas, and travel and transport services. Food, cleaning and laundry services, fuels and lubricants, and drugs and treatment supplies also generated a significant proportion of emissions.

"Reducing consumption-based emissions requires converting domestic energy production and other manufacturing processes into low-carbon processes. In addition to this, we need ways of steering households, municipalities, joint municipal authorities and government organisations towards choosing goods and services with a smaller carbon footprint”, says Development Manager Ari Nissinen from the Finnish Environment Institute.

Access the full study here. 

Read a summary of the results here.

Learn more about carbon footprinting in ICLEI's Sustainable Procurement Resource Centre here.