The European Commission is facing a concerted push from a broad coalition of businesses and civil society groups to embed mandatory low-carbon criteria into the EU’s public procurement rules. With a significant revision expected on September 9, these 26 organizations, representing over 11,500 companies, argue that the bloc’s current approach leaves a substantial economic lever largely unpulled, hindering climate goals. They contend that the EU’s market conditions often fail to reward companies actively pursuing decarbonization, despite Brussels simultaneously urging them to do so.
This appeal, formalized in an August 18 letter spearheaded by the Italian Climate Change think tank ECCO, underscores a critical disconnect. Public authorities across the EU collectively spend an estimated €2.5 trillion annually on procurement, a figure equivalent to roughly 16% of the Union’s GDP. This colossal purchasing power, the coalition asserts, remains only partially harnessed for sustainable ends. While the Net Zero Industry Act introduced green criteria in 2024, their voluntary nature and varied application across member states have led to a fragmented landscape, preventing public purchasing from sending a clear, unified signal to European industry. The prevailing tendency to prioritize the lowest price, rather than broader environmental considerations, exacerbates this issue.
A core demand from the coalition is to move beyond the “lowest-price-only” award system and firmly establish the “most economically advantageous tender” (MEAT) approach as the default. This shift would grant public authorities the necessary latitude to weigh factors like carbon emissions and social impact alongside cost, fostering a more holistic assessment of value. If governments were to consistently favor cleaner steel, sustainable construction materials, and low-carbon technologies, the commercial incentive for suppliers to invest in decarbonization would become significantly stronger, creating a virtuous cycle within the market.
The groups also propose integrating public procurement with the EU’s existing climate architecture. By leveraging methodologies already associated with established climate regulations, such as the EU’s carbon market system or carbon border tax rules, emissions data could become more comparable across bids. This strategy aims to streamline reporting for companies, avoiding the burden of entirely new compliance regimes, while also ensuring consistency and legal certainty. The letter suggests a progressive introduction of these requirements, distinguishing between core mandatory minimum criteria as eligibility thresholds and additional reward criteria to incentivize continuous innovation and over-compliance.
This lobbying effort arrives as EU co-legislators are engaged in discussions over the Industrial Accelerator Act, a contentious proposal that aims to bolster the EU’s industrial sector and curb the dominance of competitors like the US and China. The Act introduces “Made in Europe” stipulations in public procurement and support mechanisms, seeking to align industrial revival with the energy transition. Beyond environmental considerations, the signatories of the letter are also advocating for procurement rules that would prevent public contracts from being awarded to suppliers implicated in poor working conditions or abuses within their global supply chains, extending the scope of responsible purchasing beyond carbon footprints. This broader vision seeks to transform public spending into a powerful instrument for both environmental stewardship and social equity across the continent.
