DeCarb-Pro aims at reducing CO2 emissions from procurement by local authorities. Through this project we will develop and apply a toolbox of CO2 pricing and procurement instruments validated for North-West Europe (NWE) wide use for large, medium-sized, and small local authorities.
Public procurement has a key impact on CO2 emissions and accounts for a large share of these emissions. Without decarbonising procurement, local authorities in North-West Europe are not likely to reach the 2030 EU reduction goals, or contribute sufficiently to the ambitions of the EU Green Deal. The most significant emission reduction can be realised with procurement related to infrastructure, construction and energy. Public procurement is dominated by prices. By using carbon pricing in procurements, local authorities stimulate companies to compete with products and services with lower emissions. The strategy is rarely applied by local authorities, due to a lack of instruments and knowledge to standardise these procedures.
Transnational cooperation facilitates fast uptake in NWE countries. The partnership, consisting of local authorities, energy agencies, city networks, and market partners from six of the NWE countries, will develop and apply a strategic approach to carbon pricing and procurement for large, medium-sized, and small local authorities. The project builds on existing frontrunning experience of Dutch and French project partners with local CO2 pricing. The developed instruments will be tested and validated in pilot procurement projects in three sectors: infrastructure, construction and energy. Pilot actions will lead to concrete emission reductions and will act as showcases for replication in other local authorities. Additionally, training schemes will be developed and conducted for stakeholder capacity building. This will enable local authorities to apply CO2 pricing in procurements continuously and in a standardised manner, thus contributing to CO2 emission reduction. The city networks will ensure the uptake of the project results by mainstreaming the instruments and standards, e.g. within the EU climate initiative Covenant of Mayors.
The spring of 2023 will be used to further develop the project partnership and project management structure. The execution of the different Work Packages will commence in September 2023. DeCarb-Pro will run until 2027.
The project partners taking part in DeCarb-Pro are: Klimaatverbond Nederland (NL, lead partner), Climate Alliance (DE), South East Energy Agency (IE), Municipality of Amsterdam (NL), City of Essen (DE), City of Paris (FR), Green Metropolitan region Arnhem-Nijmegen (NL), Foundation for Climate Friendly Procurement and Business (NL), Strasbourg Eurométropole (FR), Climate Agency Wiesbaden (DE), Flux50 (BE), Climate Agency of Strasbourg (FR), and Climate Alliance Luxembourg (LU, associated organisation).
