Advancing Green Public Procurement in South Africa

South Africa's public procurement accounts for approximately 15% of its GDP and therefore represents a key opportunity to advance environmental sustainability. While the country does not have specific national legislation for green public procurement (GPP), the existing regulations allow procurers to integrate environmental considerations into procurement procedures.

The success of local and regional initiatives demonstrates that it is feasible to implement GPP in the South African context. For instance, the Western Cape government and City of Cape Town use green procurement criteria to reap tangible environmental benefits of reduced water use, energy consumption, and waste generation.

Despite this progress, most procurements in South Africa focus on economic efficiency and social objectives. Mainstreaming GPP still faces several challenges, including gaps in the legislative framework and limited capacity and knowledge among procurement practitioners. In addition, GPP is hindered by financial constraints, inadequate monitoring systems, and market readiness issues where smaller companies struggle to meet formal environmental requirements.

To overcome these challenges and mainstream GPP, policy-makers and procurers can take action in five key areas:

• create an enabling policy environment by embedding GPP into the legislative framework and developing a national GPP action plan,
• enhance the capacity of procurers through a centralized knowledge platform and targeted training programs,
• address financial barriers by integrating GPP into budget planning tapping into international support,
• build a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation system to track progress and demonstrate benefits, and
• foster market readiness through transparent engagement and targeted support for small companies.