UK Government Sustainable Procurement Action Plan published
The Government has published an action plan to ensure that supply chains and public services will be increasingly low carbon, low waste and water efficient, respect biodiversity and deliver wider sustainable development goals.
The UK Government Sustainable Procurement Action Plan responds to the business-led Task Force report Procuring the Future, which was published last summer.
At the time, the Government also set a series of sustainable operations targets for the Government office estate, including a pledge to go carbon neutral by 2012 and to reduce carbon emissions by 30% by 2020.
The Action Plan now strengthens the commitments made last year, by describing in detail what the Government and individual departments will do to achieve them.
The Action Plan puts in place clear lines of accountability and reporting, and develops plans to raise the standards and status of procurement practice in Government. Alongside the Action Plan, Government is also publishing an updated set of mandatory environmental product standards, that will ensure departments procure the most sustainable commodities.
Environment Secretary David Miliband said:
"The Government accepts the Task Force's challenge to 'use its immense buying power' to make rapid progress towards our goals to move to a low carbon economy.
"Public sector purchasing power must be harnessed to transform the market for innovative and sustainable solutions to make them more widely available and affordable to others.
"Procurement is key in tackling climate change and as a Government we must do more and practise what we preach in terms of tackling climate change.”
Further information
See news release 64/07.
Page published: 5 March 2007