GreenS · Project

Ready-Made Green Procurement Support System for Public Authorities Across 7 Countries

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Imagine every city hall and government office in Europe wants to buy greener products — energy-efficient lighting, low-emission vehicles, sustainable office supplies — but nobody on staff knows how to write the tender documents or evaluate bids for "greenness." GreenS set up permanent help desks inside energy agencies across 7 countries that walk public buyers through the entire green procurement process, from writing criteria to evaluating offers. They tested this hands-on support with at least 21 public authorities and built training programmes so the knowledge sticks long after the project ends.

By the numbers

EU countries with established Green Public Procurement support units

Public administrations invited to test technical support

Consortium partners

Countries represented in consortium

Total project deliverables produced

The business problem

What needed solving

Public authorities across Europe want to buy green — energy-efficient equipment, sustainable services, low-carbon solutions — but their procurement staff lack the technical knowledge to write green criteria, evaluate bids on environmental performance, or justify the sometimes higher upfront costs. This gap means billions in public spending flows to conventional, higher-emission products and services, while green suppliers lose out on contracts they should be winning.

The solution

What was built

Permanent Green Public Procurement support units (G.PP.S.) embedded within energy agencies in 7 EU countries, a collection of good and bad practice analyses from each participating country, sustainable training programmes for procurement staff, pilot green procurement processes tested with at least 21 public administrations, and 34 deliverables including posters, brochures in all partner languages, and recorded roundtables from each partner country.

Audience

Who needs this

Green product suppliers wanting to win more public tendersSustainability consultancies advising local governmentsProcurement training and advisory firms expanding into GPPEnergy agencies looking to add green procurement servicesRegional development bodies implementing climate action plans

Business applications

Who can put this to work

Green products and services suppliers

SME

Target: Companies selling energy-efficient equipment, sustainable building materials, or eco-certified office supplies to public sector buyers

If you are a supplier of energy-efficient or eco-certified products struggling to win public tenders — this project created permanent Green Public Procurement support units in 7 EU countries that train public authorities to write green criteria into their tenders. That means more public tenders will explicitly ask for the kind of products you sell, opening doors that were previously closed by generic lowest-price procurement.

Sustainability consulting

any

Target: Consulting firms advising municipalities and regional governments on climate action plans

If you are a sustainability consultancy helping local governments deliver on their Sustainable Energy Action Plans — this project analyzed SEAPs across 7 countries to identify exactly where public authorities need support for green products and services. The documented good and bad practices from 8 countries give you a ready-made diagnostic toolkit to offer clients, backed by real pilot results from 21 public administrations.

Public procurement advisory

mid-size

Target: Procurement training providers and e-procurement platform companies

If you run a procurement training or advisory business and want to expand into green procurement — this project developed sustainable training programmes across 7 EU countries with institutionalized GPP training content. The tested methodology for setting up Green Public Procurement Supporters inside energy agencies gives you a proven service model to replicate or license for new markets.

Frequently asked

Quick answers

What would it cost to implement this green procurement support system?

The project was a Coordination and Support Action (CSA), so no specific product pricing exists. However, the model relies on embedding support units within existing energy agencies, which means the main costs are staff training and coordination rather than new infrastructure. Replicating the approach in a new country would primarily require consultant time to adapt the methodology to local procurement law.

Can this scale beyond the 7 pilot countries?

The model was designed for replication. G.PP.S. (Green Public Procurement Supporters) units were established in 7 EU countries across very different procurement cultures — from Scandinavia (SE) to Southern Europe (IT, ES, CY) to Eastern Europe (BG, LV, SI). This geographic diversity suggests the methodology adapts well to different legal and institutional contexts.

Is there intellectual property or licensing involved?

As a publicly funded CSA project, the training materials, good/bad practice analyses, and methodology documents are typically available as open resources. Based on available project data, 34 deliverables were produced including training materials and country-level analyses that could be freely adapted.

Does this help with EU regulatory compliance?

Yes — GPP is a key instrument under EU climate and energy policy. Public authorities that adopted the GreenS methodology gained structured support for meeting EU green procurement targets, reducing CO2 emissions, and implementing their Sustainable Energy Action Plans (SEAPs). This directly supports compliance with EU public procurement directives.

How long does implementation take?

The project ran for 36 months (2015-2018) to establish and test the full system across 7 countries. Based on the deliverable timeline, roundtables were conducted from month 10 through month 34, suggesting that a single-country implementation could be operational within 10 months and refined over 2 years.

What kind of ongoing support exists?

The project specifically designed the G.PP.S. units as 'permanent structures' within energy agencies, meaning they were intended to continue operating after project funding ended. The institutionalization of training programmes was a core objective, with built-in plans for long-term financing of these programmes.

Consortium

Who built it

The consortium of 14 partners across 8 countries is heavily tilted toward public-sector and energy agency organizations (13 out of 14 are non-industry), which makes sense for a project focused on changing how governments buy things. With only 1 industry partner and 3 SMEs (7% industry ratio), the project was clearly designed as a public-sector capacity builder rather than a commercial venture. The coordinator is an Italian local energy agency (Cosenza province), and the geographic spread from Bulgaria to Sweden means the results were tested across very different procurement cultures and regulatory environments.

AGENZIA LOCALE PER L'ENERGIA E LO SVILUPPO SOSTENIBLE DELLA PROVINCIADI CONSENZA SRLCoordinator · IT
YPOURGEIO GEORGIAS, AGROTIKIS ANAPTYXIS KAI PERIVALLONTOSparticipant · CY
CALABRIA REGIONEparticipant · IT
ENERGEIAKO GRAFEIO KYPROUparticipant · CY
RIGAS PLANOSANAS REGIONSparticipant · LV
ICLEI EUROPEAN SECRETARIAT GMBH (ICLEI EUROPASEKRETARIAT GMBH)participant · DE
LOKALNA ENERGETSKA AGENCIJA ZA POMURJE ZAVOD ZA PROMOCIJO IN POSPEVANJE TRAJNOSTNEGA ENERGETSKEGA RAZVOJA MARTJANCIparticipant · SI
ENERGIKONTOR NORR ABparticipant · SE

How to reach the team

The coordinator is AGENZIA LOCALE PER L'ENERGIA E LO SVILUPPO SOSTENIBLE DELLA PROVINCIA DI COSENZA SRL, an Italian energy agency. SciTransfer can facilitate introductions.

Order a report on this consortium See AGENZIA LOCALE PER L'ENERGIA E LO SVILUPPO SOSTENIBLE DELLA PROVINCIADI CONSENZA SRL profile →

Next steps

Talk to the team behind this work.

Want to replicate this green procurement support model in your region or offer GPP consulting services? SciTransfer can connect you with the project team and help you access the methodology, training materials, and country-level analyses from all 7 pilot countries.

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