The Influence of Sustainable Reporting Obligations on Public Purchasing

Abstract

Public procurement is a key market-based instrument to achieve smart, sustainable and inclusive growth while ensuring the most efficient use of public funds. It is widely known that procurement can be used to spur innovation and to address major societal challenges. For public authorities it is however not always easy to achieve objectives of sustainability by means of public purchasing. While mandatory sustainable procurement requirements exist for some sectors or products, general mandatory requirements for environmental, social and innovation procurement do not (yet) exist. This contribution will discuss whether and to what extent the sustainable reporting obligations under Directive 2013/34/EU, Regulation 2019/2088 and Regulation 2020/852/EU can help contracting authorities to determine whether the supplies, services or works they purchase are in fact sustainable in nature.