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September 29, 2025
The 2025 Procura+ Awards jury has selected its finalists. The Award has three different categories: Sustainable Procurement of the Year, Innovation Procurement of the Year and Global Initiative of the Year. The winners will be announced on 8 October at the Procura+ Seminar in Middelburg (the Netherlands).
The Procura+ Awards-an ICLEI Europe initiative within the context of its Procura+ Network-seek to highlight sustainable, circular and innovation procurements and tender procedures and give visibility to the most dynamic, forward-looking and innovative public authorities and their initiatives.
ICLEI member Oslo (Norway) is among the nominees in the category Innovation Procurement of the Year, being recognised for launching the ‘Oslo Furniture Reuse Platform-Loopfront’, a pioneering digital solution that integrates circular economy practices into public procurement. Its fellow finalists are Orleans Metropole (France), which has pioneered a sustainable energy project that captures heat from urban wastewater to supply clean energy to residential and university buildings and ANCI Toscana (Italy), nominated for its support of climate resilience through its innovation partnership.
In the Sustainable Procurement of the Year category, the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) (Germany) has been recognised for integrating Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence (HREDD) into their public procurement of electric bus charging points. The Oeiras City Council (Portugal) developed a forward-thinking public procurement model for the maintenance of its green spaces, Bretagne Porte de Loire Communauté (France) decided to furnish its new ‘Maison de services Jeunesse & Numérique’ entirely with second-life furniture.
The Global Initiative of the Year is a pioneering category, opening up the Procura+ Awards to public authorities from outside Europe for the first time. Its finalists come from three different continents. The Brazilian Ministry of Management & Innovation in Public Services launched Procure+Brasil, a digital public marketplace aiming to make public procurement more inclusive and sustainable. In New Zealand, the Auckland City Council launched the NGA Puna Pukuenga Programme, which connects individuals facing barriers to work to permanent, living-wage jobs in the water and infrastructure sectors. Finally, UNDP Uzbekistan’s initiative, “The Path to Water Through Life, No One Left Behind,” sought to provide sustainable access to clean water in remote communities of Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan.
Learn more at ICLEI sustainable procurement platform webpage.
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September 12, 2025
FAO’s new flagship publication, Transforming Food and Agriculture through a Systems Approach, offers practical guidance to help policymakers and practitioners take joined-up action across agrifood systems. It presents a concrete framework built around six key elements of a systems approach—systems thinking, knowledge, governance, doing, investment and learning—showing how each contributes to sustained transformation at scale. Moving beyond fragmented efforts, the report emphasizes smarter connections between sectors, goals and stakeholders to deliver lasting impact on food security, nutrition, equity and sustainability. Drawing from 19 real-world examples, it highlights how countries and cities are already applying this approach—from sustainable food procurement in New York to systems-oriented policy-making in Rwanda—demonstrating that transformation aligned with the 2030 Agenda is both possible and within reach.
More details at FAO open knowledge center.
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September 8, 2025
Data centres in developing countries are set to grow rapidly due to economic expansion, rising data demand and increasing data sovereignty needs. However, these facilities are highly energy-intensive. Despite efficiency improvements, regulations remain insufficient, with the EU still drafting its first Data Centre Regulation. Against this background, United For Efficiency has developed the Sustainable Procurement Guidelines for Data Centres and Computer Servers.
These guidelines are designed to help organisations set robust criteria and processes that improve the energy efficiency of their current or upcoming facilities. They offer recommendations on several key performance criteria and operating conditions that are most relevant and impactful for selecting energy-efficient data centres and computer servers. The criteria cover indicators such as power usage effectiveness, water usage effectiveness, IT equipment energy efficiency, and cooling effectiveness ratio.
Learn more at UNEP resources webpage.
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September 1, 2025
The European Commission has published two new practical guides highlighting how EU Ecolabels can be used for the public procurement of respectively graphic paper and tissue paper and paper products. For both product groups, the guides identify the most relevant EU Ecolabel criteria that can be used when drafting technical specifications and award criteria.
The EU Ecolabel is the official EU voluntary label for environmental excellence and features over 102.000 certified products in 25 different categories. The EU ecolabel criteria are scientifically based, legally established and third-party verified. The criteria, developed through extensive research and stakeholder consultation are regularly updated to adjust to evolving environmental priorities and technological advancements. All EU Ecolabel certified products can be found in the ECAT catalogue.
Public buyers seeking to buy green can require goods and/or services to EU Ecolabel certified, or they can reference identified EU ecolabel criteria in the technical specifications and/or award criteria. Both options reduce administrative verification efforts, and lead to the purchase of products that meet strict environmental standards, without compromising on performance. EU Ecolabels also offer public procurers economic benefits, as they offering access to competitively priced goods and services, while helping contracting authorities to meet sustainability objectives without compromising on quality and on value for money.
Some public administrations, such as the Government of Flanders and the Slovenian Ministry of Public Administration have already used the EU ecolabels successfully in their tenders. More information about them can be found in an article written for the GPP Helpdesk. In addition, interested stakeholders can join the 10 October webinar, highlighting key insights on the use of EU ecolabels as well as some best practices. Register here for the webinar!
Learn more at ICLEI Sustainable procurement platform webpage.
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