“Public procurement rules as they stand are too complicated and not flexible enough to reach our goals” according to MEP Heide Rühle. Rühle said that she welcomes the current revision process scheduled to be concluded in the coming months when speaking at the Smart Procurement - Reducing Costs and Saving Energy Conference.

The event took place in the Basque Country Representation Office in Brussels (Belgium) on 29 June with leading European cities in the field of sustainable procurement meeting with representatives from DG Environment, DG Enterprise and DG Energy. Participants had the opportunity to explore the role and potential of sustainable procurement as a driver of energy efficient innovation in the European Union. As strong advocators for achieving clearer wording on what is possible when spending public money in a more sustainable manner, the main message from the European Parliament and Commission is that the public sector can be a driving force for greening the market.

Many cities are making waves across Europe and the procurement tools developed through the European SMART SPP project “innovation through procurement”, are being used in cities such as ICLEI members Cascais (Portugal) and Kolding (Denmark), and the Basque Country (Spain). These tools enable purchasers to calculate the real cost of products during their life span, and provide step-by-step guidance on how public bodies can get the best value out of their procurement actions. The tools were officially launched at the conference and training sessions on them were given in the hope that many other cities will follow in the footsteps of the pioneers mentioned above.

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