PARTICIPATORY APPROACHES TO SUSTAINABLE PROCUREMENT OF OFFICE EQUIPMENT AND CONSUMABLES IN CHINA

Since the 1980s China undergone unprecedented economic growth and urban areas continue to rapidly modernise. However, this economic growth has taken its toll on China’s environment and natural resources. Severe water and air pollution in particular are threatening ecosystems and human health. As the public sector is of great importance in China, effective Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) plays a critical role in tackling environmental degradation, mitigating climate change and promoting social standards. Because of its immense size, the public sector offers broad opportunities to mainstream sustainable procurement and encourage adoption of SCP more broadly across the economy.

 

Sustainable means and ends

The project “Sustainable Public Procurement in Urban Administrations in China (SuPP-Urb)” supports the implementation and mainstreaming of SPP at the city level. Recommendations for improved policies focusing on environmental and social aspects of office equipment and consumables have been developed for three Chinese megacities. Chinese and European partners, practitioners from Public Procurement Centres and suppliers have worked together within the project to overcome implementation problems. Furthermore the project has fostered a common understanding of issues such as procurement processes and the overall SPP regulations in China and Europe.

 

Reaching out to three Chinese Megacities

The Chinese Megacities of Qinhuangdao (Hebei Province), Lanzhou (Gansu Province) and Tianjin were chosen as pilot cities for the SPP implementation. Best practice examples on SPP from Europe and China were published with the aim of providing practical insights and a theoretical background on SPP principles and procedures (see below). Relying on Chinese and European examples each pilot city composed an SPP action plan. To facilitate the process a number of workshops were held to provide a platform for knowledge and experience sharing among the different project stakeholders.

 

Background

SCP for National and Local Development is a key priority area for the CSCP and sustainable public procurement has contributed toward achieving the environmental targets of China's 11th five-year programme.

 

The project was implemented in cooperation with the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy (WI), the Environment Management College of China (EMCC), Nankai University (NKU), the Lanzhou Environmental Protection Bureau (LZEPB) and Public Procurement Centres in Qinhuangdao, Tianjin and Lanzhou. Project financing was provided by the European Commission SWITCH Asia Programme which promotes Sustainable Consumption and Production (SPC) in Asia.