Sustainable and circular approaches mean efficient procurement. A focus on buying or leasing only what you need can help reduce overall costs. Considering the life cycle costs of a product rather than just the purchase price (i.e. also considering usage, maintenance and disposal costs) will also bring clear financial benefits.

For example:

The city of Mechelen views the circular economy as an essential approach for achieving sustainability goals and is exploring procurement approaches where waste can become new raw materials and where public authorities purchase a specific service instead of buying a product. When planning for the procurement of lighting for four buildings, Mechelen wanted to explore circular and lower energy solutions.
Mechelen bases the figures on a savings potential of 50,477 kWh per year of the four buildings together, which is approximately 14,994 euro per year of energy (taking into account energy price rises) (GPP Case Study 2019)

Key local issues such as employment generation, working conditions, and the marginalisation of certain groups, can also be addressed through SPP. SPP can also help tackle global issues such as child labour and fair trade.

For example:
The City of Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve (OLLN) provides 700 meals per day to nine schools in its territory. Since 2010, the City has been implementing a procurement policy focused on offering children quality food, which is seasonal, environmentally friendly and healthy.
The objectives of the current contract include: increasing the awareness and interest in healthy and sustainable food among children (as well as parents and school staff); training people far from employment; and, motivating the market to provide more sustainable food by using the city’s purchasing power as leverage. The contract value was almost €1.6million (before value added tax).

The successful bidder was a small enterprise, who, as a result of this contract has been able to focus their business entirely on sustainable food, and grow from four to 80 employees. In addition, four people, who could be classed as ‘far from employment’.

In addition to supply, changing demand through food education has been an important part of this process. Encouraging the acceptance of food less known to children is important for supporting a healthy diet. (GPP Case Study 2019)

SPP can help an organisation to make major cuts in CO2 emissions – through energy efficient construction and transport, and choosing products and services with a lower carbon footprint throughout their life-cycle.

For example: The reconstruction of the Motorway A6 Almere, in Rijkswaterstaat, the Netherlands, using low-carbon tendering lead to 52,800 t CO2e emissions reduction in 50 years (GPP 2020, 2016).

As public authorities are such large buyers, they have considerable market power. The purchasing decisions they make can influence the development of new, more sustainable products and services.

For example: In 2013 the State of Berlin decided to address slow uptake of using recycled concrete in building construction by initiating a pilot project. The project aimed to stimulate demand for recycled concrete in the building materials market, thus the tender included recycled concrete as a requirement. 12 bids were received, and all bidders were able to meet the technical requirements for recycled concrete.
As a result of the success of the pilot project and subsequent uses, the State of Berlin now requires that recycled concrete is used in all future public high-rise construction projects. This will result in the replacement of around100,000m3 of standard concrete per year. (GPP 2017)

Implementing an SPP policy is a highly visible way of demonstrating an organisation's commitment to sustainability.

For example:

Nantes aims at being at the forefront of economic, social, environmental and democratic transitions by inventing more responsible development models that involve all relevant stakeholders. Considering that public procurement is not only a technical decision, but has be in line with its political priorities, Nantes has developed numerous initiatives in the field of responsible procurement since 2001. In 2017 it initiated the Responsible Purchasing Promotion Scheme (SPAR) to guide further action across a range of areas, including the Circular Economy, energy transition, environmental pollution and organic food (Procura+ Case Study 2017).

Encouraging improvements in the products and services offered by your regular suppliers, helps these companies improve their competitiveness in national and international markets.

For example: The City of Copenhagen is dedicated to ensuring its food and catering service is healthy, sustainable and appetising. The City has a target to supply 90% organic food across its 900 municipal canteens. Extensive market engagement was undertaken in order to ensure the requirements were ambitious yet achievable, and bidders were also asked to complete 'seasonal wheels' in order to demonstrate that varieties of the most commonly used products would be available throughout the year. Innovation in the supply and delivery products, greater sustainability of the sourced food and improved relationships with suppliers were all positive results of the extensive market dialogue (Procura+ Case Study 2017).

Air & water quality, resource use, waste generation – all are affected by the purchases we make. circular and sustainable procurement can lead to major improvements both locally and globally.

For example: When Public Health Wales (PHW) moved offices in 2016, it wanted the successful bidder to use as much of its existing office equipment, furniture and flooring as possible, as well as supplying remanufactured goods from other sources. The winning consortium of social enterprises supplied over 2,500 items, with only 6% from new stock. The circular approach diverted 41 tonnes of waste from landfill with a CO2 saving of 134 tonnes (Procura+ Case Study 2018).