In March 2022, SPRI faculty presented at the Utah Sustainable Purchasing Summit hosted by Utah Resource Stewardship. The State of Utah is seeking to amplify its focus on sustainable purchasing and invited SPRI to discuss different approaches to its ~100 summit attendees.

SPRI faculty also presented to the City of Scottsdale Environmental Advisory Committee in May of this year to provide information about actionable sustainable purchasing practices. The City of Scottsdale is in the process of developing their first-ever sustainability plan and is considering how sustainable purchasing may help it achieve its sustainability goals.

In May 2022, then PhD student Yifan Chen presented a paper at the Public Management Research Conference in Phoenix, AZ entitled "Is technology making local governments greener and more efficient? An empirical analysis of e-procurement systems in the U.S. and Japan.” Chen discussed the growing trend for public agencies to incorporate Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) into their managerial routines. In the study, Chen explores how digital technologies infuse ‘green’ thinking into government purchasing and affect procurement. Drawing from nationwide surveys of public managers in 459 U.S. cities and 860 Japanese municipalities, this study compares how these relationships vary between the U.S. and Japan.

Government purchasing in South Korea accounts for 25.7% of country-level gross domestic product. Examples of purchases include vehicle fleets, construction materials, chemicals, electronics, and office materials. These purchases collectively contribute to global climate change and a host of other environmental concerns when manufactured and while in use.

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Government purchasing in South Korea accounts for 25.7% of country-level gross domestic product. Examples of purchases include vehicle fleets, construction materials, chemicals, electronics, and office materials. These purchases collectively contribute to global climate change and a host of other environmental concerns when manufactured and while in use.

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In Spain, Government purchasing accounts for 18.5% of total gross domestic product. These purchases of vehicle fleets, construction materials, chemicals, electronics, and office materials contribute to global climate change and other environmental concerns during their lifecycles. As a result, the national government has pledged its commitment to the European Union’s Green Public Procurement criteria and has published a Presidential Order approving the General State Administration’s Green Public Procurement Plan.

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In Spain, Government purchasing accounts for 18.5% of total gross domestic product. These purchases of vehicle fleets, construction materials, chemicals, electronics, and office materials contribute to global climate change and other environmental concerns during their lifecycles. As a result, the national government has pledged its commitment to the European Union’s Green Public Procurement criteria and has published a Presidential Order approving the General State Administration’s Green Public Procurement Plan.

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Arizona State University's Sustainable Purchasing Research Initiative (SPRI) celebrates three student research assistants who successfully defended their dissertations and scientific papers in April and will graduate in May.

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Arizona State University's Sustainable Purchasing Research Initiative (SPRI) welcomes two new undergraduate interns. Anna Elovitz is a junior undergraduate student at the School of Sustainability and the W.P. Carey School of Business, pursuing two bachelor of science degrees in sustainability and economics. Matthew Santino is a senior undergraduate student pursuing a bachelor of science degree in sustainability at the School of Sustainability.

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Originally published in the LSE Business Review

By Yifan Chen, Nicole Darnall, Justin M. Stritch, and Stuart Bretschneider

A product’s price and quality are no longer the primary purchasing criteria for local governments. Environmental and social impact also needs to be considered. So, why aren’t all government using an e-procurement system to simplify the process? Yifan Chen, Nicole Darnall, Justin M. Stritch, and Stuart Bretschneider explored the issue. Their study suggests that governments are more likely to adopt an e-system if they have centralised structures.

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The United Nations Environment Programme has partnered with Arizona State University's Sustainable Purchasing Research Initiative (SPRI) and a team of researchers around the world to produce its 2022 Global Review of Sustainable Public Procurement. Building on the findings of the UN's first edition of the Global Review published in 2013 and the second edition published in 2017, this report will examine the state of sustainable public procurement (SPP) policies and practices globally.

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Archimedes once observed that with a long enough lever he could move the world. In the case of moving the world to a more sustainable place, government purchasing could be just what he would have ordered.

“Government is the largest buyer of goods across the globe,” Arizona State University Sustainable Purchasing Research Initiative co-founder Nicole Darnall told an international audience during a Security and Sustainability Forum webinar April 22. That means, she said, that government purchasing can play a huge role in advancing sustainability around the world.

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Originally published in The London School of Economics and Political Science. Governments have the power to leverage their sizeable purchasing power to encourage widescale production of sustainable products and services, which can help them meet the Paris Climate Accord’s carbon reduction goals. Fatima Hafsa, Nicole Darnall, and Stuart Bretschneider write that the size of government purchases is underestimated and thus opportunities for greater sustainability impact are missed.

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Published originally in ICMA.

Researchers at Arizona State University share results on public procurement efficiency.

By Yifan Chen, Nicole Darnall, Justin Stritch, and Stuart Bretschneider of Arizona State University | Apr 5, 2021

Public procurement is the process by which governments acquire goods, services, and supplies to support essential functions. In the United States, approximately 10 percent of U.S. GDP is spent on public procurement activities, and more than 60 percent of these public procurement expenditures are occurring at the state and local level.

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A new report reveals what factors influence whether Australian governments are successful at adopting green purchasing policies, Elizabeth Bruns, Nicole Darnall, Kylie Flynn, and Angela Fox write.

In 2015, Australia’s government purchasing accounted for 36 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product. All the time, the government is buying construction material, chemicals, vehicle fleets, office materials, and electronics.

These purchases collectively contribute to global climate change, and a host of other environmental concerns during their manufacturing and use. As a result, many Australian governments are adopting sustainable purchasing policies to reduce their environmental impacts.

A sustainable purchasing policy formalises an organisation’s commitment to reduce the environmental harms associated with its purchasing and procurement.

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By: Elizabeth Bruns, Nicole Darnall, Kylie Flynn, Angela Fox

Italian local government purchases account for 10-11% of the gross domestic product. Examples of purchases include vehicle fleets, construction materials, chemicals, electronics, and office materials. These items are a significant contributor to global climate change and other environmental concerns during manufacturing and use. Implementing green purchasing policies can significantly curb governmental contributions to negative environmental impacts while stimulating the global production of green products and services.

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By: Elizabeth Bruns, Nicole Darnall, Kylie Flynn, Angela Fox

Italian government purchases account for 10 - 11% of the country's gross domestic product. Examples of these purchases include chemicals, construction materials, vehicle fleets, electronics, and office materials. Research shows that these purchases are significant contributors to global climate change and a host of other environmental concerns during manufacturing and when in use. For this reason, Italy passed the National Action Plan on Green Public Procurement to implement purchasing initiatives that reduce environmental impacts. While the plan has a minimum criteria requirement, implementing Green purchasing policies will increase Italy's adoption at the local level and help achieve its National Action Plan goals to reduce environmental impacts.

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By: Elizabeth Bruns, Nicole Darnall, Kylie Flynn, Angela Fox

Italy was the first country in the European Union to mandate green purchasing protocols across all levels of government. The National Action Plan on Green Public Procurement sets guidelines and offers definitions on green purchasing for Italian municipalities. In Italy, government purchasing accounts for 10 - 11% of the country's gross domestic product. Examples of purchases include construction materials, chemicals, vehicle fleets, office materials, and electronics. These purchases are significant contributors to global climate change and other environmental concerns during their manufacturing and while in use.

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By: Elizabeth Bruns, Nicole Darnall, Kylie Flynn, Angela Fox

Why is government purchasing so important? In Australia, it accounts for roughly 36.2% of the country's gross domestic product. Examples of purchases include vehicle fleets, construction material, chemicals, electronics, and office materials. These purchases collectively contribute to global climate change and a host of other environmental concerns associated with raw material sourcing, production, use, and disposal.

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By: Elizabeth Bruns, Nicole Darnall, Kylie Flynn, Angela Fox

Government purchasing in Australia accounts for 36.2% of the country's total gross domestic product. Examples of these purchases include vehicle fleets, construction material, chemicals, electronics, and office materials. Collectively, these items contribute to global climate change and a host of other environmental concerns. Some municipalities are implementing sustainable purchasing policies to reduce their negative impacts.

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By: Elizabeth Bruns, Nicole Darnall, Kylie Flynn, Angela Fox

Australia's government purchasing accounts for 36.2% of the country's gross domestic product. Examples of purchases include construction material, chemicals, vehicle fleets, office materials, and electronics. These purchases collectively contribute to global climate change and a host of other environmental concerns during their manufacturing and use. Many Australian municipalities are adopting sustainable purchasing policies to reduce their environmental impacts. A sustainable purchasing policy formalizes an organization's commitment to reduce the environmental harms associated with purchasing and procurement. 

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