Green Public Procurement (GPP) capacity building and implementation in the Baltic Sea Region

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The Baltic GPP project has focused on Green Public Procurement (GPP) as a means for decreasing the ecological footprint of public authorities. Through buying innovative, eco-efficient products and services we can significantly reduce environmental pollution and build up necessary know-how and capacities for meeting future environmental challenges. Fostering exchange and learning from each other’s approaches such as; early market engagement for SME:s; lifecycle costing to save costs, and; the application of GPP criteria focusing on environmental criteria has been the core of Baltic GPP. Cooperating in a transnational partnership has been necessary since green public procurement as a practice has been differently developed in each participating country. Through cooperation, national approaches can be shared while also leveraging the total practice of GPP and harmonizing it with EU guidelines. The following project objectives guided the project: 1) Increase the level and uptake of GPP in the Baltic Sea Region; 2) Stimulate green growth through GPP; 3) Better address core environmental priorities; 4) Align regional approaches to GPP application and foster life-long learning; 5) strengthen and develop national GPP focal points, 6) Increse knowledge and expertise in GPP; 7) Develop common training material; 8) Test GPP criteria and approaches; 9) Increase the sharing of experiences, and finally; 10) Educate SME:s in how to become excellent green suppliers. While project outputs and objectives target the entire BSR, only five countries have officially been partners; Denmark, Germany, Finland, Sweden and Norway. Official partners have been National Focal Points for GPP and Core Procurement Institutions. The participating countries have initiated dialogues with contacts at the environmental ministry in Estonia and with procurement officials/procurers in Latvia, Lithuania and Russia.

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