How Green Public Procurement Contributes to Sustainable Development in China: Evidence from the IISD Green Public Procurement Model

The People's Republic of China spent more than CNY 1.6 trillion (USD 252 billion) on procurement in 2013, accounting for 11.7 per cent of all national spending (Ministry of Finance of the People's Republic of China, 2014). In light of these numbers, the potential environmental, social and economic multipliers of greening government purchases become evident. The benefits of a comprehensive and efficient green public procurement (GPP) policy are not limited to the green products and services the public sector buys, but will have a ripple effect that encourages green consumption nationwide. The significant purchasing power of the government will provide the much-needed incentives in order for businesses to invest and innovate in green products and services to meet the government's guaranteed long-term and high-volume demand. Additionally, GPP is in line with China's national plans to pioneer "eco-civilisation" and with the upcoming 13th Five-Year Plan (FYP), which underlines the importance of GPP.This paper is the second and final component of IISD's contribution to greening public procurement in China. Our discussion paper Green Public Procurement in China: Quantifying the Benefits, published in April 2015, analyzed China's GPP landscape, taking a closer look at current practices, actors at different levels of government and the underlying legal framework. In addition, the paper introduced the IISD GPP Model, discussing its potential for quantifying and communicating the benefits of GPP, while providing a high-level overview of the modelling approach used and of the scope of the model envisioned. Building on the results of the IISD GPP Model, consultations with stakeholders and an extensive literature review, this paper provides targeted recommendations addressing the development areas identified to improve GPP in China. The recommendations follow a multiphase approach offering more immediate solutions as well as more ambitious, larger-scale overhauls of the GPP framework for the long term. The results of the IISD GPP Model will be shared for the first time as part of this paper, making the case for green procurement through analyzing five product categories: air conditioners, lighting, cars, paper and cement. These categories were selected because they represent significant financial flows in procurement, have notable environmental impacts and domestic production, and have sufficient data available to facilitate their analysis. A detailed overview of the key elements of the modelling approach will be provided, in addition to an explanation of the model setup and the range of externalities monetised for each product category. Finally, we will look at how to use the model at the different levels of government as well as how its scope can be extended and customised in order to leverage its potential under a wider range of circumstances and areas of procurement

Performance-Based Specifications: Exploring When They Work and Why

There is extensive research and attention on innovation and sustainable public procurement (SPP) in the European Union at present, with the 2014 revision of the Procurement Directives, the Innovation Union strategy and other European Union policy initiatives. This report seeks to contribute to this discussion through the investigation of the use of performance based specifications (PBSs) in public procurement in the European Union and the United States. The report outlines the benefits and limitations of the use of PBSs, even in the most "progressive" public procurement environments, such as the Netherlands, particularly around their ability to support sustainable development goals and deliver environmental benefits for a procuring authority, such as energy and resource efficiency. Additionally, this report aims to identify the sectors in which the enabling conditions for the successful use of PBSs in public procurement are in place and to understand what policies and regulations are needed to promote the use of PBSs in public tenders and public procurement framework agreements

The UK market for energy service contracts in 2014–2015

This paper provides an overview of the UK market for energy service contracts in 2014 and highlights the growing role of intermediaries. Using information from secondary literature and interviews, it identifies the businesses offering energy service contracts, the sectors and organisations that are purchasing those contracts, the types of contract that are available, the areas of market growth and the reasons for that growth. The paper finds that the UK market is relatively large, highly diverse, concentrated in particular sectors and types of site and overwhelmingly focused upon established technologies with high rates of return. A major driver is the emergence of procurement frameworks for energy service contracts in the public sector. These act as intermediaries between clients and contractors, thereby lowering transaction costs and facilitating learning. The market is struggling to become established in commercial offices, largely as a result of split incentives, and is unlikely to develop further in this sector without different business models, tenancy arrangements and policy initiatives. Overall, the paper concludes that energy service contracts can play an important role in the transition to a low-carbon economy, especially when supported by intermediaries, but their potential is still limited by high transaction costs

M&V in ESPC: The U.S. Federal Experience and Implications for Developing ESPC Markets

The United States Federal Government has been conducting guaranteed savings energy savings performance contracts for over 20 years and now relies on ESPC for the majority of its energy efficiency work. Along with a related financed project type, these deals resulted in $4.2 billion of project investment in the five years ending in 2016, a pace that has even accelerated since. Measurement and verification (M&V) on the projects is the key to assuring savings realization and persistence. Perceived as a weakness or burdensome added cost in the early years of the program, M&V has become a strength. All energy conservation measures (ECMs) have some form of measurement – defined as a measured baseline establishment followed by at least one measurement of the main energy-saving parameter taken in the performance period for each ECM. The government’s in-house energy consulting office, the Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP), now recommends measurement of these “Option A” M&V ECMs throughout the contract term, usually annually. Moreover, a significantly higher percentage of projects are now characterized by more ambitious M&V, including Option B (all parameter measurement) for most generation (including renewable) and some efficiency measures, and more frequent Option C (whole facility utility bill analysis) for “deep retrofit” projects with multiple, interactive ECMs. Coincident with this progress in M&V has been a much greater embracing of ESPC by the federal agencies, resulting in the enormous rate of projects now executed. This paper traces the evolution of M&V in federal ESPC and argues that the heightened credibility of the savings has contributed significantly to the procurement vehicle’s long-term viability. This focus on savings integrity via M&V has been learned over two decades for U.S. federal ESPC, but countries with developing ESPC markets would be wise to emphasize it as their markets emerge, allowing them to avoid some of the “growing pains” experienced in the U.S

Guidebook "How to Develop a Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP)"

The purpose of the present guidebook is to help the Covenant of Mayors signatories to reach the commitments they have taken by signing the Covenant, and in particular to prepare within the year following their official adhesion a Baseline Emission Inventory (BEI) and a Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP). BEI is a prerequisite to SEAP elaboration, as it will provide knowledge of the nature of the entities emitting CO2 on the municipality's territory, and will thus help select the appropriate actions. Inventories conducted in later years will allow determining if the actions provide sufficient CO2 reductions and if further actions are necessary. The current guidebook provides detailed step-by-step recommendations for the entire process of elaborating a local energy and climate strategy, from initial political commitment to implementation. It is divided into 3 parts: · Part I relates to the description of the overall SEAP process and covers the strategic issues; · Part II gives guidance on how to elaborate the Baseline Emission Inventory; · Part III is dedicated to the description of technical measures that can be implemented at local level by the local authority in the different sectors of activity; The guidebook provides a flexible but coherent set of principles and recommendations. The flexibility will allow local authorities to develop a SEAP in a way that suits their own circumstances, permitting those already engaged in energy and climate action to come on board of the Covenant of Mayors, while continuing to follow the approaches they have used before with as little adjustments as possible. This document is intended to help beginner towns/cities/regions to initiate the process and guide them through it. It should also provide experienced local authorities with answers to specific questions they are faced with in the context of the Covenant of Mayors, and if possible, with some fresh and new ideas on how to proceed.JRC.DDG.F.8-Renewable Energy (Ispra

Low carbon housing: lessons from Elm Tree Mews

This report sets out the findings from a low carbon housing trial at Elm Tree Mews, York, and discusses the technical and policy issues that arise from it. The Government has set an ambitious target for all new housing to be zero carbon by 2016. With the application of good insulation, improved efficiencies and renewable energy, this is theoretically possible. However, there is growing concern that, in practice, even existing carbon standards are not being achieved and that this performance gap has the potential to undermine zero carbon housing policy. The report seeks to address these concerns through the detailed evaluation of a low carbon development at Elm Tree Mews. The report: * evaluates the energy/carbon performance of the dwellings prior to occupation and in use; * analyses the procurement, design and construction processes that give rise to the performance achieved; * explores the resident experience; * draws out lessons for the development of zero carbon housing and the implications for government policy; and * proposes a programme for change, designed to close the performance gap

Accelerating the Transition towards Solid-state Lighting: Challenges for the Public Sector to Deploy Solid-state Lighting

The market uptake of solid-state lighting (SSL) is slow, even though it has many advantages and could deliver a variety of benefits to the society. The public sector is a large actor in the lighting market and could play an important role in accelerating SSL market penetration. Nevertheless, it faces many challenges to adopt SSL. Therefore, the main purpose of this research is to provide a better understanding of these challenges and explore potential strategies to overcome them. Sweden is selectd as a focus country as it is a leading nation in adopting SSL. Overall, the public sector in Sweden faces several challenges to adopt SSL. The challenges and its underlying reasons are presented as below: (i) low confidence in SSL due to early technological shortcomings; (ii) risk averison due to uncertainties of product performance and benefits of SSL; (iii) conservative perspective on lighting due to limited awareness of SSL and its benefits; (iv) conservative perspective in prioritizing SSL health and well-being benefits due to limited attention; (v) difficulties in achieving inter-operation ability in innovative lighting solutions (SSL is part of the solution); (vi) high initial cost for outdoor and replacement lighting. To accelerate the transition towards SSL, following actions could be taken: (i) product performance testing standards improvement; (ii) minimum quality requirements scheme setting and market surveillance enhancement; (iii) demonstration projects with high replication potential; (iv) improve awareness and acceptance of SSL and its benefits among different actors; (v) develop standard and norms for lighting’s effect on human health and well-being; (vi) innovative public procurement to facilitate commercialization of innovative lighting solutions; (vii) strenthen SSL (and innovative lighting solution) value chain; (viii) privatepublic partnerships (PPP) to facilitate collaboration; (ix) product-servicing system as a new business model to facilitate solution-oriented approach; (x) increase financial support