Why should municipalities make their purchases in a sustainable and circular way?
Each procurement represents an opportunity to directly impact the economic offer and market practices towards innovation and more sustainable and circular markets. It is therefore a powerful lever that municipalities can use to question their needs as well as their purchasing practices in order to shape the transition towards a more sustainable and circular economy.
If we consider that public procurement accounts for a significant part of global GDP (Gross Domestic Product), municipalities not only have a crucial role to play in shaping local sustainable and circular economies but also have a political responsibility to lead by example and spend public resources accordingly.
What is the strategy in Luxembourg at the municipal and national level?
In Luxembourg, the importance of sustainable and circular procurement to meet national climate goals is amongst others explicitly embedded in national strategies, such as the 2021 "National Strategy for a Circular Economy" (EC Lux Strategy, p. 18, 22 & 23), and has also been legally anchored in 2022 in the new Waste Law.
At municipal level, the Climate Pact provides a framework for promoting sustainable and circular procurement, in particular through measure 5.2.4 of its catalogue of measures dedicated to public procurement. It is also in this context that Klima-Agence has developed the B-Circular platform to help municipalities in a practical way integrating sustainable and circular criteria and to attain their organizational climate targets.
Sustainable and circular procurement helps to contribute to the European and international climate goals as well as to the achievement of the UN Agenda 2030, in particular in the implementation of SDG 12 (Sustainable Development Goal).
For more information on how to implement sustainable and circular procurement in your municipality.
