Sustainable development and the power of the purse: A critical assessment of the EU’s Green Public Procurement policy

Sustainable development and the power of the purse: A critical assessment of the EU’s Green Public Procurement policy

This article critically examines the European Union’s Green Public Procurement (GPP) policy, tracing three decades of incremental development and assessing current shortcomings. Public procurement represents a substantial share of government activity (around 15% of EU GDP), giving governments signi...

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Autor principal: Groenendijk, Nico
Format: Article ou chapitre numérique
Idioma:Français
Publicat: 2026
Accés en línia:Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
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spelling cairn-EUFOR_401_0041EUFORL'Europe en Formation https://shs.cairn.info/journal-l-europe-en-formation-2025-2-page-41?lang=en https://doi.org/10.3917/eufor.401.0041 Sustainable development and the power of the purse: A critical assessment of the EU’s Green Public Procurement policy Groenendijk, Nico2026 fre L'Europe en Formation | 401 | 2 | 2026-04-30 | p. 41-63 | 0014-2808 EUFOR_40177 This article critically examines the European Union’s Green Public Procurement (GPP) policy, tracing three decades of incremental development and assessing current shortcomings. Public procurement represents a substantial share of government activity (around 15% of EU GDP), giving governments significant “power of the purse” to pursue environmental objectives. Despite high expectations for GPP’s contribution to environmental objectives, including market transformation, uptake remains low and uneven across levels of government and Member States. Fragmentation in the regulatory framework – across voluntary versus mandatory measures, procedural versus substantive requirements, sectoral versus horizontal rules, and below- versus above-threshold regimes – has produced patchy GPP implementation. Measurement challenges and a weak evidence base further obscure the policy’s effectiveness. Transformative market impacts are rarely captured, and GPP is not sufficiently benchmarked against other potential policies. The article also explores risks of overstretching public procurement with multiple, sometimes conflicting objectives, generating synergy or friction effects. Referring to the upcoming new Public Procurement Act, the article argues for clearer objectives, better evidence, and a more coherent regulatory design to enhance GPP uptake and effectiveness. Cet article analyse en profondeur la politique de l’Union européenne en matière de marchés publics écologiques (MPE), en retraçant trois décennies d’évolution graduelle et en identifiant les faiblesses actuelles. Les marchés publics représentent une part importante de l’activité des pouvoirs publics (environ 15 % du PIB de l’UE), ce qui leur confère un « pouvoir budgétaire » considérable pour poursuivre des objectifs environnementaux. Malgré les attentes élevées quant à la contribution des MPE aux objectifs environnementaux, notamment en matière de transformation du marché, leur adoption reste faible et inégale entre les niveaux de gouvernement et les États membres. La fragmentation du cadre réglementaire – entre mesures volontaires et obligatoires, exigences procédurales et de fond, règles sectorielles et horizontales, et régimes sous et au-dessus des seuils – a conduit à une mise en œuvre inégale des MPE. Les difficultés de mesure et la faiblesse des données factuelles rendent encore plus difficile l’évaluation de l’efficacité de cette politique. Les effets transformateurs sur le marché sont rarement pris en compte, et les marchés publics écologiques ne font pas l’objet d’une comparaison suffisante avec d’autres politiques potentielles. L’article explore également les risques liés à une utilisation excessive des marchés publics, auxquels sont assignés des objectifs multiples et parfois contradictoires, générant des effets de synergie ou de friction. Se référant à la nouvelle loi sur les marchés publics à venir, l’article plaide en faveur d’objectifs plus clairs, de données probantes de meilleure qualité et d’une conception réglementaire plus cohérente afin d’améliorer l’adoption et l’efficacité des marchés publics écologiques. Cairn restricted access
language Français
format Article ou chapitre numérique
building 0/Bibliothèque numérique/
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description This article critically examines the European Union’s Green Public Procurement (GPP) policy, tracing three decades of incremental development and assessing current shortcomings. Public procurement represents a substantial share of government activity (around 15% of EU GDP), giving governments significant “power of the purse” to pursue environmental objectives. Despite high expectations for GPP’s contribution to environmental objectives, including market transformation, uptake remains low and uneven across levels of government and Member States. Fragmentation in the regulatory framework – across voluntary versus mandatory measures, procedural versus substantive requirements, sectoral versus horizontal rules, and below- versus above-threshold regimes – has produced patchy GPP implementation. Measurement challenges and a weak evidence base further obscure the policy’s effectiveness. Transformative market impacts are rarely captured, and GPP is not sufficiently benchmarked against other potential policies. The article also explores risks of overstretching public procurement with multiple, sometimes conflicting objectives, generating synergy or friction effects. Referring to the upcoming new Public Procurement Act, the article argues for clearer objectives, better evidence, and a more coherent regulatory design to enhance GPP uptake and effectiveness.
author Groenendijk, Nico
spellingShingle Groenendijk, Nico
Sustainable development and the power of the purse: A critical assessment of the EU’s Green Public Procurement policy
author_facet Groenendijk, Nico
author_sort Groenendijk, Nico
title Sustainable development and the power of the purse: A critical assessment of the EU’s Green Public Procurement policy
title_short Sustainable development and the power of the purse: A critical assessment of the EU’s Green Public Procurement policy
title_full Sustainable development and the power of the purse: A critical assessment of the EU’s Green Public Procurement policy
title_fullStr Sustainable development and the power of the purse: A critical assessment of the EU’s Green Public Procurement policy
title_full_unstemmed Sustainable development and the power of the purse: A critical assessment of the EU’s Green Public Procurement policy
title_sort sustainable development and the power of the purse: a critical assessment of the eu’s green public procurement policy
publishDate 2026
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url https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://shs.cairn.info/journal-l-europe-en-formation-2025-2-page-41?lang=en
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.3917/eufor.401.0041
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