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News & Press Releases - Fair procurement for the public sector

08 November 2022 Call for action: Active for sustainable procurement

It's time: To date, too little attention has been paid to the potential of sustainable public procurement in practice and also in the media. A new initiative wants to change that. More than 60 public figures in Germany, Austria and Switzerland have already joined, including Rosa Grabe on behalf of FEMNET.

The initiative wants to give a face to the common cause and communicate this commitment in all areas. Your vision: By 2030, sustainable procurement will become the standard in around 30,000 public procurement agencies in Germany. In their daily work, they then contribute to achieving the 1.5-degree climate target and to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Germany.

So far, less than 5% of the procurement volume has been sustainable

According to a study by the University of the Bundeswehr in Munich, public authorities in Germany have so far still tendered less than 5% of the total annual procurement volume of around 500 billion euros for sustainable products and services. Tax money is therefore not used in a sustainable manner.

Wide support for the action call

To the First signatories include Rosa Grabe from FEMNET. She leads the project ‘Procurement of fair change’ and has been supporting municipalities and municipal companies in the transition to sustainable textile procurement since 2015.

"We have been supporting this issue for a long time now, but it has not really started, and procurement should be used much more strategically to achieve sustainability goals," explains Rosa Grabe. "This is not a niche demand, but there is a broad basis for this concern. To make this visible, I signed the call. Hopefully, through the breadth and diversity of the signatories, we will be able to achieve a lot politically."

Are you interested in raising your voice for a sustainable approach to public procurement and networking with like-minded people, exchanging experiences and advancing the cause? The initiative supports you with various formats.

The initiative started in August 2022 and is already supported by a broad base. The first signatories include procurement managers from the municipalities, city councillors, mayors, members of the Bundestag, federal administrative judges, employees of the European Commission, professors, researchers, lawyers, entrepreneurs, representatives of business associations, members of the Council for Sustainable Development, as well as many representatives of civil society institutions who have been committed to sustainable and fair public procurement for years.

The ‘Active for sustainable public procurement’ call is an initiative of the magazine for sustainable procurement ‘Kleine Kniffe’ and the VUBN administrative and procurer network. Together, they currently reach about 45,000 people who deal with the topic of public procurement professionally. They want to use this communicative power to ensure that sustainable public procurement becomes the standard in the approximately 30,000 public procurement agencies in Germany by 2030.