Buy Smart – Green procurement for smart purchasing
Countries: Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Sweden, and Slovenia
Duration: 30 months
Implementing Agencies: Environmental Protection and Energy Conservation Agencies at the local and national levels. Project leader – Berliner Energieagentur (Germany)
Starting Date: May 2009
Supporting Institutions: €656,304 from European Commission, IEE programme and SAVE actions
Partner Inputs: €220,198
Total Cost of the project: €876,502
Brief Description: The main purpose of Buy Smart is to promote, implement and further develop the procurement of energy efficient products in private and public institutions, by using green procurement guidelines and other promotion and support tools based on eco-efficient criteria from well-established environmental and energy labels. A consortium of eight experienced institutions in seven EU Member States will implement the proposed project with support from national Steering Committees in each participating country.
Objectives: Specific strategic goals of the Buy Smart project are: (i) to raise awareness about energy and environmental labels and evaluate how they can provide better criteria for green purchasing; (ii) to raise awareness about the potential of green procurement to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions; (iii) to provide an easy access to green criteria and standardized tools for professional purchasers; (iv) to improve knowledge of policymakers with the aim of increasing their support for green procurement; (v) to cooperate with e-procurement platforms with the purpose of integrating green procurement modules into the e-procurement procedures; and (vi) to enhance the cost-efficiency of green products and services for European private businesses and public authorities.
Main Activities: A dedicated website www.buy-smart.info will be on-line by the end of summer 2009, where developed tools and an overall explanation of the harmonized procedure could be downloaded in English and in the national languages of the participating partners. Effective dissemination activities have been foreseen to complement the project strategy. Press releases, articles, presentations, workshops and conferences are planned for the whole duration of the project to ensure raising awareness on green procurement and energy and environmental labels.
An international conference will be organized at the completion of the project to allow sharing of its major outcomes with an audience of international experts. Policy recommendations will be developed for national governments with a view to supporting the strengthening of green procurement in the revised versions of the respective National Energy Efficiency Action Plans in 2011.
The Steering Committee of the ECE Energy Efficiency 21 Project is expected to contribute to the project implementation and accomplishment of the project goals by facilitating the widespread dissemination of the information to the international experts in energy efficiency. Reports on progress of the project will be provided to the annual sessions of the Steering Committee of the EE21 Project.
