Monday, 13 May 2024 – 9:00 Eastern US – 15:00 CET
Join GW Law and a panel of experts for a free one-hour webinar to discuss an outstanding example of transatlantic cooperation — the Joint U.S.-EU Catalogue of Best Practices on Green Public Procurement (April 2024), produced through a joint initiative of the European Commission and the U.S. government. The federal government has just published a final rule revamping the U.S. approach to environmentally sustainable public procurement, and the EU is making important advances in the area — critical developments in green procurement with global implications.
Overview of the Catalogue
The catalogue reflects a common understanding on how “green public procurement” — public procurement grounded in environmental sustainability — can positively contribute to achieving shared environmental goals posed by climate change. The catalogue identifies key policies, actions and best practices in green public procurement, as part of a broader effort to use public procurement to “catalyze” reductions in the greenhouse gasses which cause global warming.
The catalogue reflects a breakthrough on multiple fronts:
- The European Commission and the United States are cooperating on a critical legal and regulatory issue in public procurement — global warming.
- The catalogue, by setting a template for reform, could help jump-start broader multilateral efforts to address “green procurement.”
- By identifying common best practices, the catalogue will make it easier for the contractor community to build towards likely solutions — a clear “market signal” for bidders in public procurement markets.
Background on the EU-U.S. Trade and Technology Council
The catalogue was released as part of the sixth ministerial meeting of the Trade and Technology Council (“TTC”), which took place in Leuven, Belgium, on 4 and 5 April 2024. The meeting was co-chaired by European Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager, European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken, United States Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, and United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai, joined by European Commissioner Thierry Breton, and hosted by the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. (EU press release)
As the European Commission notes, the “EU-US Trade and Technology Council provides a forum for the United States and European Union to coordinate approaches to key global trade, economic, and technology issues and to deepen transatlantic trade and economic relations based on these shared values. It was established during the EU-US Summit on 15 June 2021 in Brussels.”
Panelists
Lucian Cernat – Head of Global Regulatory Cooperation and International Procurement Negotiations at the European Commission (Brussels)
Kate Psillos – Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for WTO and Multilateral Affairs, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (Washington DC)
Gian Luigi Albano – Head of Division at Consip S.p.A., the National Central Purchasing Body, Italy; Research Fellow, Utrecht University Centre for Public Procurement (UUCePP); Adjunct Professor of Economics, LUISS Guido Carli (Rome).
Christopher Yukins (moderator) – Lynn David Research Professor in Government Procurement Law, George Washington University Law School (Washington DC)
Resources
Government Publications
Joint U.S.-EU Catalogue of Best Practices on Green Public Procurement (April 2024) (archived)
Agreement on mutual recognition between the European Community and the United States of America (1999)
European Commission, Mutual Recognition Agreements (“Mutual recognition agreements lay down the conditions under which one Party . . . will accept conformity assessment results (e.g. testing or certification) performed by the other[] Party[‘s] . . . designated conformity assessment bodies (CABs) to show compliance with the first Party’s . . . requirements and vice versa.”).
Federal Acquisition Regulation on “Green Procurement” – Final Rule (April 22, 2024) – Rule updates FAR on environmental sustainability matters, and implements a requirement for agencies to procure sustainable products and services to the maximum extent practicable. Regulatory history.
U.S. Government Accountability Office, Federal Fleets: Zero-Emission Vehicle Implementation, GAO-23-105350 (July 19, 2023).
U.S. Office of Management & Budget, Guidance for Federal Financial Assistance, 89 Fed. Reg. 30046 (Apr. 22, 2024) (2 CFR 300.323 — federal grants recipients to purchase sustainable products and services “to the greatest extent practicable and consistent with law”).
Articles
Robert D. Anderson, Antonella Salgueiro, Steven L. Schooner & Marc Steiner, Deploying the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) to Enhance Sustainability and Accelerate Climate Change Mitigation, 32 Public Procurement Law Review 223 (2023)
Marta Andhov & Christopher Yukins, A Transatlantic Analysis of EU and U.S. Strategies in “Green Procurement, 66 Gov. Contr. ¶ 60 (Thomson Reuters, Mar. 2024)
Marta Andhov & Willem Janssen, Podcast: Mandatory Sustainability Requirements in EU Public Procurement Law
Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD), The International Regulatory Co-operation Toolkit (2013)
Polly Hall, Tim Cooke & Steven L. Schooner, Leveraging the Federal Government’s Buying Power to Mitigate Climate Change, 63 Contract Management 40.
Désirée U. Klingler & Steven L. Schooner, Promoting Sustainable Public Procurement Through Economic Policy Tools: From Moral Suasion to Nudging ( 2023), European Journal of Public Procurement Markets, 4(4), 67-79 (2023).
Steven L. Schooner, No Time to Waste: Embracing Sustainable Procurement to Mitigate the Accelerating Climate Crisis, 61 Cont. Mgt. 24 (Dec. 2021).
Steven L. Schooner, Why Sustainable Procurement? Read All About It, 64 Contract Management 48 (April 2024)
Steven L. Schooner & Evan Matsuda, Sustainable Procurement: Building Vocabulary To Accelerate The Federal Procurement Conversation, Briefing Papers No. 21-10 (Thomson Reuters, 2d Series, Sept. 2021), https://ssrn.com/abstract=3943341
Steven L. Schooner & Markus Speidel, ‘Warming Up’ to Sustainable Procurement, 60 Contract Management, Issue 10, 32 (October 2020).
Chloë Waterman, Rachel Clark & Steven L. Schooner, Food Procurement: An Essential Ingredient to Mitigating Climate Change and Enhancing Public Health, 64 Contract Management 50 (February 2024), https://ssrn.com/abstract=4714848.
Daniel Wilson, Sharper Sustainability Rule May Strengthen Bid Protests, Law360 (Apr. 23, 2024).