News

10 January 2025

Public procurement impacts transport patterns

Almost every product or service we buy has an impact on transportation patterns in cities. The Greater London Authority (GLA) Group, a Procura+ participant, is committed to using strategic and sustainable public procurement to contribute sustainable delivery solutions that can also be role models for the private sector, in line with London’s 2030 Net Zero Target. To see how the GLA’s efforts look in practice, ICLEI Europe’s Procura+ Network, a network of European public authorities and regions that connect, exchange and act on sustainable and innovation procurement, gathered in London for a Procura+ CityMatch.

The CityMatch was kicked off by Transport for London (TfL) which showed how it is implementing green and social responsibility in its contracts. In accordance with the GLA Group Responsible Procurement Implementation Plan, from 1 July 2025, contracts that are over £1 million will be required to use zero emission vehicles for under 3.5 tonnes (N1 cars and M1 vans), while vehicles over 3.5 tonnes will need to be Low Emission Zone compliant. New contracts under £1 million will be subject to this requirement from 2027, and from 2025 will be asked to improve their environmental performance by showing efforts to achieve reduction of vehicle mileage and emissions.

As the aim of the Procura+ CityMatch is to facilitate exchange between different public authorities, the event highlighted different perspectives from across Europe as Procura+ participants discussed how they address sustainable transport solutions and challenges, with a special focus on last mile delivery. “It is great to have this knowledge and experience sharing with five European cities and regions. It was great to see how much we at TfL can learn from the delegates and our own suppliers”, says Tim Rudin, Head of Responsible Procurement at Greater London Authority/TfL. Several cities, including ICLEI Members Stavanger, Aalborg, Copenhagen, and Rome shared their experiences conducting such projects:

  • Stavanger (Norway) highlighted how it is using mandatory requirements, award criteria and technical specifications to promote low carbon delivery solutions;
  • Aalborg (Denmark) presented the EU-funded MoLo Hubs project, which seeks to reduce urban traffic by initiating and implementing new and convenient logistics service offers at urban mobility hubs;
  • Copenhagen (Denmark) focused on its green and social requirements for supplier vehicles;
  • Metropolitan City of Rome (Italy) emphasised how its Sustainable Logistics Metropolitan Plan improves air quality and accessibility.
  • Las Rozas de Madrid (Spain) explained how it is using the Local Green Deals to reduce the carbon footprint of service suppliers.

The CityMatch ultimately shows there is great demand for both more sustainable solutions for the transport sector and for more events where public authorities can discuss and collaborate on public procurement-related challenges and solutions. As Simon Birk Nielsen, consultant for sustainable procurement from the Copenhagen noted: “There is a need for strategic implementation and taking the demands we set seriously. We need to be ambitious and be able to control what our contractors are saying."