Decision of the Government of the Republic of Croatia on Green Public Procurement in the Central Public Procurement Procedures

The Republic of Croatia supports the direction of the EU's common climate policy and has developed scenarios for achieving greater reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 (Croatia's share in the common EU target of -55%) and climate neutrality in Croatia by 2050.

In these scenarios, public procurement also plays an important role, accounting for 16.46% of Croatia's GDP (the EU average is 14%). Therefore, the introduction of green public procurement criteria in public procurement procedures can have a strong impact on the development of the market for low-carbon green products and services and contribute to climate goals. Green public procurement is also part of the circular economy policy as it contributes to environmental goals and waste reduction and is monitored globally through the UN Sustainable Development Goal 12.1.

Taking into account the ambitious goal of climate neutrality, it is certainly necessary to speed up the transition process in all segments of society. Thus, in the consumption segment, public procurement obligors initiate investment in innovation and low-carbon development by purchasing green products and services.

The results of the implementation of the First Action Plan for the Implementation of Green Public Procurement for the period from 2017 with a view to 2020 (adopted by the Government of the Republic of Croatia in 2015) show that only 10% of contracts concluded in 2019 applied some form of green public procurement.

The Central State Office for Public Procurement (hereinafter: the Central State Office) conducts unified public procurement procedures for goods, works and services for taxpayers of the central public procurement (Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia, Croatian Parliament, Government of the Republic of Croatia, ministries and state administrative organizations).

In the period from 2016, based on special decisions and conclusions of the Government of the Republic of Croatia, the circle of users of unified public procurement was significantly expanded, and according to the value of procurement conducted by the Central State Office, it ranked among the four largest contracting authorities.

Public procurement procedures conducted by the Central State Office and related procurement documents often serve as role models for other contracting authorities in conducting their procurement. The Central State Office has had a practice so far, where it was possible to use green public procurement criteria. However, by adopting this Decision, the Government of the Republic of Croatia gives an additional obligation and sends an important political message about its commitment to climate policy and circular economy policy.

This Decision also obliges the Central State Office to provide information on the use of green public procurement and to publish this information on official website (https://sredisnjanabava.gov.hr/).