Manila, Philippines: Driving the markets for greater sustainability requires competitiveness and innovation: so that increased public spending on green products and patronizing green suppliers through Green Public Procurement (GPP) can serve as an effective means to enable local industries shift towards sustainable practices while reducing the government’s environmental impact from its huge purchases.
However, while there are already numerous GPP models for national government agencies, the diffusion of these initiatives at the local levels remains slow.
It is in this context that the project :Establishment of Green Public Procurement (GPP) in Quezon City for the Promotion of Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) in the Philippines’ was initiated by the Quezon City, to become the first LGU in the country to pilot GPP implementation.
Under the technical assistance of the Philippine Center for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development Inc (PCEPSDI), the 2-year project will be implemented by the Environmental Protection and Waste Management Department (EPWMD) of the QC LGU. This project is assisted through the UN Environment Programme 10 Year Framework of Programmes (10YFP) Trust Fund for Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP), which was among the three (3) countries selected from 52 country proposals submitted on SPP.
To kick off the project, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed last Monday, Feb 29, between project implementers and partners at the Bulwagang Amoranto, Quezon City Hall.
Mayor Herbert Bautista led the QC LGU, while Presidential Adviser for Environment Protection and concurrent Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) General Manager Hon. Secretary Juan Romero Nereus Acosta, represented PCEPSDI as its Board Chairman. DENR Assistant Secretary and EMB Director Atty. Juan Miguel Cuna, who also sits as the Co-Chair of the National Ecolabelling Programme-Green Choice Philippines (NELP-GCP), signed as one of the partner agencies/ witnesses.
“With the government being the country’s biggest consumer of goods and services, we hope to encourage more companies to shift to environment-friendly business practices and to provide us with more green choices of products and services for both our supply chain and our constituents”, said Mayor Bautista.
Sec Acosta for his part, said: “Reducing GHGs for increased climate change mitigation should be one of our key concerns as public officials. PCEPSDI, PAEP Office and LLDA commends QC in greening its operations by buying green technologies and products.”
Under the MOU, UNEP, PCEPSDI, EMB, and the Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) will provide assistance in capacity-building QC procurement officers and key end-users in GPP. A QC policy on GPP will be proposed and GPP tools will also be developed. EU Switch Asia Programme will provide technical assistance in developing product specifications for green goods.
EPWMD will be tasked to form an inter-department GPP Task Force Team to implement the project activities and deliver the project results. It will be also assist PCEPSDI, which acts as the Secretariat of the NELP-GCP, to provide the necessary data and information required in all GPP implementation concerns.
PCEPSDI, on its part will be the main project implementer, to provide the technical experts for the different project activities and handle funding concerns.
