Strengthening Green Public Procurement in European Union Policy Reforms

In 2024, the European Commission launched a revision of the public procurement directive, creating a critical opportunity to align public spending with Europe’s climate and competitiveness goals. Public procurement accounts for 14% of the European Union’s (EU’s) GDP and roughly 10% of its greenhouse gas emissions, yet less than 25% of contracts above EU thresholds are currently considered “green.” While the current directive allows for green public procurement (GPP), its voluntary nature, fragmented implementation, and lack of legal clarity have limited its impact. 

The European Commission is expected to present a draft revision of the Public Procurement Act in July 2026. In March 2026, it presented a proposal of the Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA), which recognizes the strategic role that public procurement can play for Europe’s industrial policy.  

The two pieces of legislation are closely linked. The IAA proposal introduces sector-specific targets and requirements for what public procurers should buy; for example, minimum shares of low-carbon steel or cement. The Public Procurement Act will set out the procedural rules and legal framework for how those requirements can be implemented in practice. 

This project aims to strengthen the ambitions for GPP in the next generation of EU procurement law. Public procurement must be embraced as a strategic policy tool for climate action, and GPP must become easier to implement for both procurers and contractors. This is particularly relevant for driving innovation and supporting the creation of lead markets for low-carbon, circular materials. In December 2025, IISD published recommendations on how the next public procurement framework can embrace strategic goals and what changes in the current framework can support a climate, circular economy, and competitiveness agenda.  

In this context, IISD has also looked at the role of Made in Europe content requirements in EU public procurement, such as the IAA. Drawing on case studies from China, India, and Canada, this research identifies the conditions under which local content requirements can support industrial decarbonization and supply chain resilience, and what risks policy-makers need to manage. The findings contribute to the broader debate on how the IAA and the Public Procurement Act can be designed to create lead markets for low-carbon and circular products.

Building on research, stakeholder consultations, and knowledge-exchange meetings, IISD is working to refine recommendations on how the Public Procurement Act can make GPP the default option for public buyers, and at the same time making it easier to implement. This includes developing case studies on national GPP reforms across Europe and communicating evidence-based recommendations to EU and national decision-makers. We regularly convene partners from the public and private sectors and civil society to exchange knowledge and support the network in their advocacy for ambitious, practical changes to the European Union’s public procurement framework.  

The project is funded by the European Climate Foundation.

Key resources

• Reform options for the EU public procurement directive
• Short explainer about the EU procurement reform
• Tracking benefits of GPP with EU data