Green procurement: Buyers for Climate Action

Life-cycle carbon in real property

The Life-Cycle Carbon in Real Property Working Group was established in 2022 to advance green procurement practices in real property. The working group collaborates and shares best practices including:

• implementing new procurement requirements for embodied carbon
• developing construction standards

One of the working group’s accomplishments is the Standard on Embodied Carbon in Construction. This Standard sets minimum requirements for design and construction services to disclose and reduce the embodied carbon of major federal government construction projects. These include renovation or construction of new buildings or engineering assets.

Greening on-road fleet

The Greening Fleet Working Group was launched in September 2022 to increase efforts in fleet greening through information-sharing and collaboration with key jurisdictions. The working group collaborates on fleet-greening initiatives and:

• exchanges knowledge and resources
• obtains feedback and support from other subject matter experts

To date, the working group has:

• identified common priority areas of work for their on-road fleets
• convened meetings about the procurement of telematics and infrastructure to charge electric vehicles
• collaborated to advance greening in areas such as medium- and heavy-duty fleet vehicles and police vehicles.

Greening ICT

The Greening ICT Working Group was launched in 2022 and promotes the procurement of green Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in categories such as hardware and cloud services.

The Greening ICT Working Group is a collaborative space for sharing ongoing projects and resources, exchanging best practices, and teaming up on projects to advance the greening of ICT.

The working group produced Green Procurement Criteria for Cloud Services in partnership with Espace de concertation sur les pratiques d’approvisionnement responsable [responsible procurement practices collaboration space] (ECPAR) in 2022. The document presents key green public procurement criteria to consider when procuring cloud services.

Climate resilience

The Climate Resilience Through Procurement Working Group was launched in December 2022. The working group’s objective is to use procurement to promote climate resilient supplier operations and supply chains.

The working group produced deliverables such as market research, capacity-building tools, and sample procurement specifications and contract language.

The group’s first accomplishment was the development of climate resilience criteria, which can be applied in procurement processes, in collaboration with ECPAR. These criteria were developed as an addition to the Green Procurement Criteria for Cloud Services.

Low-carbon food procurement

The Low-Carbon Food Procurement Working Group was launched in July 2024 and strives to advance the purchase of lower-carbon food products and services. The working group is a platform to share information and best practices, to address challenges, and to collaborate on mutual areas of interest.

As its first deliverable, the working group sought to understand and consolidate best practices, green criteria and other procurement language to support low-carbon food procurement for select operations. Working with an expert organization, Nourish, a document with recommended best practices, green procurement requirements, and guidance for successful implementation was developed.

Best Practices and Green Criteria for Low-Carbon Food Procurement

The “Guide to Best Practices and Green Criteria for Low-Carbon Food Procurement” was developed in collaboration with Nourish, presenting recommendations and advice to address needs and challenges related to low-carbon food procurement. The guide outlines strategies for advancing low-carbon food procurement in different operational settings. It also:

• provides sample procurement requirements and criteria that can be used in contracts
• outlines recommended strategies and best practices to support successful organizational implementation and address common barriers

Green Procurement Criteria for Cloud Services

The “Green Procurement Criteria for Cloud Services” was developed in collaboration with ECPAR and sets out criteria to consider when procuring cloud services. The criteria sheet:

• addresses energy efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions reduction, climate resilience, waste management, and general contract performance
• provides examples of supporting documents intended to aid in compliance that can be requested from bidders
• highlights the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals addressed by the criteria

2025 BCA Medium and Heavy-Duty Zero-Emission Vehicles (ZEV) Catalogue

The objective of this Catalogue is to facilitate collaboration among the BCA and other public buyers by sharing fleet compositions data, zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) adoption targets, real world experiences and lessons learned during procurement and adoption processes. The catalogue provides information on medium and heavy-duty ZEVs currently available on the market, along with their characteristics, infrastructure requirements, and any direct BCA member experience.

Telematics Procurement and Implementation Best Practices Guide

The “Telematics Procurement and Implementation Best Practices Guide” was developed by the Centre for Greening Government of the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat with input from the Greening Fleet Working Group.

The guide offers insights into procurement and implementation considerations for telematics. It also provides:

• insights on using telematics to transition from internal combustion engine vehicles to zero emission vehicles, such as battery electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and fuel cell electric vehicles
• a list of necessary products for organizations preparing to implement telematics
• a starting point for enhancing fleet management, operational efficiency and environmental sustainability

You can request a copy of these documents by email at bca.aac@tbs-sct.gc.ca.