Within Japan, many municipalities have struggled to implement their sustainable procurement policies. This project examines the factors facilitate/inhibit Japanese municipalities' green purchasing implementation, and the potential green purchasing has for facilitating a low greenhouse gas economy. It recommends immediate actions for local Japanese governments to improve green purchasing implementation, and offers critical policy advice on the ideal institutional arrangements for green purchasing success.

Implemented in
- Asia / Pacific
- North America
- Japan
- United States of America
Sectors of activity
Education, Scientific Research, Development and Innovation, Public Procurement
Type of initiative
Capacity Building & Implementation, Education & Awareness Raising, Research, Analysis, Assessment
Type of lead actor
Scientific and Technical
Submitted on:
09/04/2017Objectives
Objectives - SPRI's objectives are fourfold:
1. Develop insights about the factors facilitate/inhibit municipalities' green purchasing implementation
2. Recommend immediate actions for municipalities to improve green purchasing implementation, and offer critical policy advice on the ideal institutional arrangements for green purchasing success;
3. Deepen our understanding of green purchasing across different institutional and cultural settings.
4. Undertake policy-relevant research that addresses important sustainability concerns.
Activities
As collected through the One Planet Reporting
Output level
Knowledge resource and technical tool
-
Release of our Public Report, "Advancing Green Purchasing in Japanese Municipalities."
Release of our Public Report, "Advancing Green Purchasing in Japanese Municipalities."
Regions
Asia / Pacific
Lead organization
Arizona State University Waseda University
Objective
The main goals of this report were to determine the barriers and facilitators of sustainable public procurement implementation in Japanese municipalities.
Achievements
After completing our report, we hosted stakeholder workshops with individuals in the Japanese Ministry of Environment, the Japanese Green Purchasing Network, municipalities and other organizations to discuss how Japan can increase sustainable procurement in municipalities.
Impact and Results
Benefits to Practice - This project will lead to recommendations for immediate actions that municipalities can undertake to facilitate their green purchasing implementation. These recommendations have been compiled in a user-friendly guidance reports (in both English and translated into Japanese) on green purchasing best practices and distributed online to local government managers, procurement officers, sustainability officers, and professional networks.
Scholarly Benefits – this research study will offer insights about which factors facilitate/inhibit local SPP implementation in Japan (as compared to the U.S.), and SPPs’ potential to facilitate a low GHG economy. Project results will be developed into a series of scholarly papers. The findings will be relevant to researchers in several disciplines, including public administration, public policy, management, and environmental sciences/management.
Next steps and how to get involved
Email Dr. Nicole Darnall, project lead, at ndarnall@asu.edu.