Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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104. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he has established a benchmark within public bodies for the proportion of their procurement that is acquired under green procurement frameworks; and the targets that are being set for adoption in the years ahead. [10543/23]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Ireland’s National Action Plan on Green Public Procurement (GPP), ‘Green Tenders - An Action Plan on Green Public Procurement’, was published in 2012. ‘Green Tenders’ did not specifically outline targets for use of central purchasing arrangements, such as green framework agreements. The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, as the department with policy responsibility for green public procurement, will be conducting a public consultation on a new GPP Action Plan and Strategy later this year.

In relation to monitoring, Circular 20/2019 instructed Government Departments to report on green public procurement in their Annual Reports. Departments also report annually to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on number and value of contracts signed in different sectors, and the proportion of these that are green public procurement. The EPA published the first amalgamated report on such spend in 2021, which shows that the proportion of spend in 2020 that Departments classified as green was high for priority sectors set out in ‘Green Tenders’. The proportion classified as green was low overall, however, on account of a low proportion of GPP in non-priority sectors. The EPA will publish the results of Departmental procurement spend in 2021 this year, and has commenced the process of gathering information on 2022 spend.

Additionally, in line with the Programme for Government, the Office of Government Procurement and its partner Central Purchasing Bodies are incorporating green and social considerations into framework agreements as they are updated. By the end of 2022, 156 out of the current 244 arrangements were updated in line with GPP.

The Government's Climate Action Plan 2021 introduced a GPP requirement in relation to procurement of vehicles in the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate. The new Climate Action Plan 2023 includes a revised Mandate that expands public sector GPP commitments relating to specific categories such as paper, vehicles, heating, catering, and construction, as well as broader implementation in line with GPP guidance.