The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has launched a global programme to channel trillions of dollars of government procurement towards more resource-efficient goods and services.

The Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) Programme, the first action undertaken as part of the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production, will help shape government spending through access to experts and dedicated tools.

UNEP says existing initiatives prove sustainable procurement transforms markets, boosts eco-industries, saves money, conserves natural resources and fosters job creation.
Examples include the US, whose federal government procures more than $500bn a year in goods and services and has incorporated sustainability requirements into purchasing decisions, including an Executive Order stipulating 95 per cent of all new contracts use products and services that are energy- and water-efficient, environmentally preferable, non-ozone depleting, and contain recycled content. A Pittsburgh schoolboy has also suggested switching fonts on government documents could save $400m a year in ink costs.

Japanese ministries, provisional governments, and some cities are required to make 95 per cent of their purchases from designated green product categories, while China's public procurement bureau, overseeing $8bn in transactions, included sustainability criteria in over 17 per cent of orders by 2011.

Achim Steiner, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director, said the scale of the opportunity was huge, running into the trillions of dollars.

"The Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations spent an average 13 per cent of GDP on public procurement in 2011, while in some developing nations this can hit 20 per cent," he said. "Governments can use this potential to lead markets onto a sustainable path by demanding goods and services that conserve natural resources, create decent green jobs, and improve livelihoods around the globe."