Our Activities

ICLEI develops procurement guidance including criteria and verfication schemes that consider social responsibility throughout the whole supply-chain of ICT products. Additionally, ICLEI is pilot testing procurement criteria with public authorities and consulting with manufacturers and suppliers of ICT through the Market Engagement series. ICLEI’s ‘Meet the Buyer’ event series brings buyers and suppliers of ICT together to discuss public procurement’s needs for fair labour conditions along ICT hardware supply chains and how suppliers can respond to this demand.

When New York City announced intentions to divest city pension funds from fossil fuel reserve owners by 2022, the move positioned NYC at the center of the global divestment movement. Providing the first in-depth look at the steps NYC took to reach a divestment commitment, ICLEI’ s case study shows how the the largest municipal pension system in the United States has begun to divest billions of dollars from fossil fuels — and demonstrates to peer cities, large and small, that the principles and processes behind fossil fuel divestment are transferable to nearly any location where the will to divest exists.

To achieve the goals of the OPN on SPP the following activities are carried out: Support SPP implementation by assisting procuring entities and procurement practitioners at local, regional, and national levels; Initiate enabling conditions for stimulating change in international sectoral markets through procurement; Advocate and mobilise political leadership and support for sustainable procurement; Support countries in demonstrating the public value (economic, environmental, social) of sustainable procurement implementation.

Procura+ is a network of European public authorities and regions that connect, exchange and act on sustainable and innovation procurement. The network has 45 participating public authorities from 16 European countries. ICLEI offers the Procura+ participants a range of activities and resources to advance their sustainable public procurement work, including recognition through the Procura+ Awards; a city twinning program to facilitate staff exchanges; a platform to share plans and publicize successes; education and professional development opportunities; and the Procura+ manual, an accessible guide supporting public authorities in successfully implementing sustainable public procurement.

The Procura+ East Asia Green Procurement Network aims to accelerate climate and environmental actions by equipping local governments and public authorities in East Asia with advanced knowledge and skills to upscale green and sustainable procurement practices at the local level. Through Procura+ East Asia, participating local authorities will be equipped with GPP approaches and tools via training programs, and will be provided with access to expert guidance on formulating local green specifications and procurement strategies, as well as tender advice on targeted climate and environmental issues. Participants will also have various opportunities to showcase their successful stories and achievements in green procurement on the international stage by participating in forums/workshops, the Procura+ Award, and publishing case studies on the Procura+ Online Platform. The project connects public authorities, solution providers and advocacy in the region to collectively mainstream green procurement practices at the local level, and promote advanced GPP knowledge and experiences for peer learning and exchange internationally.

The P2I project aims to improve institutional support for public procurers of information and communication technologies (ICT) and other product groups implementing innovation procurement by establishing or expanding competence centers for innovation procurement in ten EU Member States. ICLEI leads on the communication, dissemination and European networking aspect of the project. Within this work ICLEI creates an outreach strategy, leads on promotion and communications activities within Europe, and supports the communication of the cross-order joint procurement.

UNEP and ICLEI Europe are working jointly on supporting the implementation of component 2 of the project, and in particular the activities in the electronics sector. These activities aim to help governments and value chain actors in the electronics sector track and manage chemicals of concern (CoC) in their products. This work is focussed on developing global sustainable public procurement guidance enabling purchasers to ultimately reduce the use of chemicals of concern (CoC) in the electronics sector and supporting the training for adaptation of global tools and guidance to the local context of public purchasers in Colombia.

SPP Regions promoted the creation and expansion of European regional networks of municipalities working together on sustainable public procurement (SPP) and public procurement of innovation (PPI). The regional networks help increase the capacity of public bodies for SPP and PPI, and send a stronger signal of demand for sustainability to suppliers. They provide support, improve skills and increase regional impact.

ICLEI supported the establishment of new procurement networks in 8 European regions. All participating networks implemented eco-innovative tenders achieving significant CO2 savings, which ICLEI supported through an intensive capacity building program. The project has produced a series of reports and guidance on sustainable procurement, including four key SPP and PPI topics: market engagement, life cycle costing, output or performance-based specifications, and circular procurement. The series of “”eco-innovative”” was published as guidance material as well. The project has also produced “”how-to”” videos on various aspects of sustainable procurement.

The goals of the European Innovation Council are:
• Putting Europe at the forefront of market-creating innovation (fundamentally different from existing markets, e.g. through a new combination of physical and digital issues, of products and services, of technologies and business models).
• Providing EU added value by focusing on innovators / companies with the potential to scale up at European and/or international level.
• Intervening where private investors are unable to get a loan (e.g. due to higher technology, market, regulatory risks associated with market creating innovation), with the aim of crowding in private investment
• Complementing existing EU innovation initiatives that focus on established markets / technologies / sectors (e.g. through public-private partnerships, development of technology roadmaps/ sectoral strategies, etc.).

ICLEI supports the EIC by connecting procurers with unmet innovation and sustainability needs with EIC companies through market engagement events.

To support NGOs in their GPP-related work as well as to strengthen the European network of NGOs, ICLEI organized several activities and produced guidance documents for NGOs. The activities included workshops and training sessions on GPP, the legal framework, practical dimensions, and good practice case studies. The training sessions also covered topics such as ecolabels, green energy, food and catering and forest products. In addition, a series of webinars tailored to the needs of NGOs was organized. As a result of the project, the 17 participating NGOs are well equipped to support their local and regional authorities in implementing GPP.