Ireland's State of the Environment Report 2024

429 Chapter 15: Circular Economy and Waste Green public procurement The public sector has a vital role to play in leading Ireland’s transition to a sustainable and carbon-neutral economy and society. In Ireland, public bodies (excluding utilities) spend an estimated €18.5 billion a year on goods, services and works. 33 Such purchasing power has significant potential to reduce emissions and protect the environment while saving money over the full life cycle of goods and services. Government commitment to green purchasing sends a powerful signal to the market. DECC has published a 2024-2027 Green Public Procurement Strategy and Action Plan, 34 which will play a key role in driving the implementation of green and circular procurement practices across the public sector. The strategy is wide ranging and includes actions on policy, legislation, using green public procurement in public sector mandates, sectoral actions, training, awareness, monitoring and reporting. The strategy has set targets to increase the use of green criteria in key economic sectors. The EPA supports green public procurement through the provision of national guidance and green criteria for priority sectors, materials and services. Ten national criteria have been developed and are available 35 to be incorporated into the procurement of, for example, food and catering services, road transport vehicles, lighting, information and communications technology, textiles, and office building design and construction. Under the Climate Action Plan (DECC, 2019), the EPA has responsibility to monitor and report on green public procurement implementation in government departments and has published annual reports since 2022 (EPA 2022b, EPA 2023d, EPA 2024a). The findings are stark. The reports show a low level of implementation across government, even for the procurement of goods and services where national criteria have been in place since 2014. The EPA will continue to monitor spending in government departments and track progress against report recommendations. The most recent EPA report shows that, of the reported spend of €922 million on contracts worth over €25,000 signed in 2022, just one- third (34%) included green criteria, (EPA, 2024). This low level of green public procurement implementation across the government is a missed opportunity and needs to be urgently addressed. 33 www.gov.ie/en/collection/06f1e-procurement-reform-annual-reports/ (accessed 24 June 2024). 34 www.gov.ie/en/publication/7b1f8-green-public-procurement-strategy-and-action-plan-2024-2027/ (accessed 24 June 2024). 35 The criteria are available for direct use in tenders and contracts. They are accompanied by notes about relevant legislation, standards and labels and how to evaluate and verify the criteria. 36 NewERA is part of the National Treasury Management Agency. Action 148 of the Climate Action Plan 2019 (DECC, 2019) requires government departments to measure and report on green public procurement on an annual basis. Successive climate action plans have introduced additional measures to improve the use of green criteria (DECC, 2023b). The report on the Climate Action Framework for the commercial semi-state sector (NTMA, 2022) includes a commitment to promote circular economy measures and green procurement (commitment 4) and stipulates that NewERA 36 reports biannually on behalf of commercial semi-state companies from 2023. Bioeconomy The bioeconomy refers to sectors and systems (e.g. agriculture, forestry, fisheries, food, marine, energy) that use renewable biological resources (such as crops, forests, fish, animals, microorganisms, biomass and organic waste) to produce valuable food, materials and energy. The opportunities for Ireland’s circular bioeconomy are rich and diverse. The restorative and regenerative aspects of the bioeconomy will be an important aspect of ensuring that Ireland’s natural capital is protected when incorporated into any circular economy model. Commitments under the Climate Action Plan 2021 (DECC, 2021d), and the Bioeconomy Action Plan 2023–2025 (DECC and DAFM, 2023), includes actions to accelerate support for the development of the bioeconomy. The 2023 and 2024 Climate Action Plans (DECC, 2023a, 2024) aim to further develop Ireland’s bioeconomy, in commercial, societal and policy terms while also increasing awareness and understanding of the bioeconomy more broadly. The Bioeconomy Action Plan seeks to enhance policy coordination and greater integration of the bioeconomy within sectoral policies. It will support the goal of moving biobased innovation and solutions from research to sustainable and circular industrial production at greater speed. It will also support more investment in demonstrating the bioeconomy concept, providing exemplars, and ensuring support for interactions and progress among multiple actors, including businesses, primary producers, scientific communities, policymakers, social movements and interest groups.