What is sustainable procurement?

According to the UN Global Marketplace definition: procurement is sustainable when it integrates requirements, specifications and criteria that are compatible and in favour of the protection of the environment, social progress and supports economic development, namely by seeking resource efficiency, improving the quality of products and services and ultimately optimising costs.

ISO 20400 on Sustainable Procurement, published in April 2017, reviewed and confirmed in 2023, defines sustainable procurement as ‘procurement that has the most positive environmental, social and economic impacts possible over the entire life cycle.’ For more information on ISO 20400, see Practice Note: The use of standards in sustainable procurement.

Essentially, sustainable procurement involves embedding environmental, economic and social criteria into supply chain due diligence frameworks and contractual documents, with an aim of motivating suppliers to offer more sustainable products and services. It means looking at the impacts of the product and service on the environment and society over its entire lifecycle from creation to disposal.

Sustainable procurement must not be confused with the term Green Public Procurement (GPP), which emphasises only the environmental