All public purchasing of tropical wood must come from legal origin and sustainably managed forests. For paper products (graphic paper and copy paper), for instance, it is recommended to incorporate in the technical specifications at least the criteria equivalent to the EU-Ecolabel or to an international certification for the sustainable management of the forests or for recycled paper.

Whole life cycle of products and the benefits of wood with respect to sustainable development are to be taken into consideration in the guidelines for public procurement. Priority has to be the use of products made from renewable natural resources on environmental and climate protection grounds.

Helpdesk for the whole supply chain. Helping representatives to answer their questions on among others sourcing certified timber, implementing policies, writing directives and specifications and obtaining chain of custody certification. Free of charge.

Forward Commitment Procurement (FCP) is an early market engagement tool that brings together progressive thinking and best practice from the private sector and the innovation and procurement communities, together with the understanding of the demand side barriers to the commercialisation of innovative goods and services identified by the Environmental Innovations Advisory Group (EIAG) to bring new cost effective goods and services into the market.

Practical guide to identifying and taking to completion a forward commitment procurement (FCP) project. Intended for local government and wider.4-stage training programme on how to use the FCP model. These materials remain the property of BIS.

The idea behind this stationery framework contract was to allow all departments and agencies in the Brussels-Capital Region to access what they needed through an in-house store, which includes the supply of green products. The in-house store has 150 items that are kept permanently on stock; other items can be ordered via the framework contract using a catalogue. A 40% discount on the listed price is given to all orders made from organisations participating in the framework contract. Numerous green criteria were incorporated into the tendering process – this included the subject matter, technical specifications and award criteria (40 percent weighting was given to environmental quality). Following ten months of operation, the store has 27 associated organisations (including regional and municipal bodies) using it, out of a possible 57 organisations. The store has sold €190,000 worth of stationery until now and 56 percent of the items sold were green.

The City of Bristol has recently been awarded the European Green Capital Award 2015 for a number of measures including consistently reducing CO 2 e emissions since 2005. In 2011, Bristol let a service contract for the collection of municipal waste and winter road maintenance around the City including the provision of vehicles, staff and depots, road and footpath gritting, snow ploughing and communication with the public. The market changed considerably throughout the previous ten year contract, so it was considered important to use the tender to drive economic and environmental improvements. Pre-qualified bidders participated in a competitive dialogue procedure to identify the best of a variety of approaches to improving recycling rates and reducing transport related emissions. One aim of the contract was to reduce emissions by 720 tonnes per annum. The winning bidder offered CO 2 e reduction of 32%, exceeding the Council’s target of 25%. Best estimates for carbon savings are currently 12% for the first year of the contract. Another objective was to increase recycling rates and the 50% target set by the City has been achieved a year ahead of schedule.

Despite the City of Turku’s ambitious plans of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per capita by 2020 by 30%, compared to 1990 levels, a rise in population resulted in a peak in emissions levels at the turn of the millennium. As a result, the City Council decided to set its procurement of electricity on a new course, sourcing all their requirements from renewable energy. Turku’s new contract – covering all electricity the City purchases – began in 2013. An interesting result of the tendering process was that the green electricity requirement had a minor impact on the purchase price, thus encouraging the city to continue seeking green procurement. Its electricity is now produced from 100% certified renewable sources. Turku's GHG emissions are expected to decrease by 31,000 tonnes a year (2% of total emissions). In terms of the origin, a large proportion of the electricity provided under the contract is generated by hydropower, but part of the mix used by the energy company also includes wind and biomass.