Buy Better to Build Better welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback and targeted evidence over the importance of effectively designing the upcoming Industrial Decarbonisation Accelerator Act.
Public procurement can accelerate the industrial transition whilst simultaneously advancing competitiveness and sustainability in Europe. This month ECOS launched a new coalition on green public procurement at a special event hosted in the European Parliament. 'Buy Better to Build Better' brings together 35 stakeholders from across the construction value chain, civil society, and public authorities, who aim to make green public procurement the default approach in Europe’s construction sector.
Press release | Industry, business associations, public authorities, and civil society unite in new coalition calling for green public procurement to drive sustainable construction through smarter public spending in the EU: ‘Buy Better to Build Better’.
Press release | The EU could slash emissions from concrete and steel by 19 million tonnes—almost half—by ensuring public authorities make better public purchases, a new study reveals [1]. The data also shows that products with lower emissions are cost-effective. The EU should not miss this opportunity to unlock public procurement’s green and economic potential, says environmental NGO ECOS, who commissioned the study [2].
With approximately 97% of the EU building stock to be upgraded, sufficiency and proactive material selection can significantly reduce extraction and embodied carbon in the construction sector. But a more sustainable material selection can only happen if the information on the environmental performance of products is reliable, comparable, and robust.
ECOS is looking for experts in the field of circular bio-based construction to represent and defend environmental interests in the development of standards and related policies. Our experts provide us with technical and scientific input and represent ECOS in standardisation processes and multi-stakeholder discussions.
The European Parliament has endorsed a revised EU Construction Products Regulation (CPR) that shifts action to the implementation phase instead of introducing mandatory requirements right away. The agreed law takes some timid steps forward, but without the comprehensive measures that are needed it is a far cry from the jump-start on decarbonisation that progressive voices have been calling for.
The EU Taxonomy Regulation defines environmentally sustainable activities and introduces key performance indicators (KPIs) for buildings and construction to make a ‘substantial contribution’ to mitigate climate change. These KPIs however do not incentivise low-impact construction materials and therefore fail to cover a significant proportion of greenhouse gas emissions in the construction sector.
Negotiations on the EU Construction Products Regulation (CPR) have concluded, with green groups disappointed that sustainability requirements for construction products continue to lack vision and oversight. The EU’s failure to take meaningful action to regulate this hugely polluting sector means that for the time being the construction industry has dodged decarbonisation, derailing the EU’s path to carbon neutrality.
Adopted in 2020, the Taxonomy Regulation defined environmentally sustainable activities to reduce the environmental impacts of businesses and investments. In 2021, the “Climate delegated act” introduced key performance indicators defined how buildings, construction, and related sectors could to make a ‘substantial contribution’ to mitigate climate change. However, these criteria fail to incentivise the use of low impact construction materials and do not cover a significant proportion of greenhouse gas emissions. This paper makes concrete proposals to amend the taxonomy climate mitigation criteria and ensure that investments marked as green are funding truly sustainable buildings.
ECOS is co-funded by the European Commission and EFTA
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or EISMEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
