What do the Net-Zero Industrial Act and the Ecodesign Regulation mean for Green Public Procurement?

Since the adoption of the European Green Deal, the 2019-2024 European Commission has presented several legislative proposals aiming to set Europe on a path towards becoming the first climate-neutral continent. In June 2024, the EU adopted the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) and the Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA), which contain provisions on green public procurement. 

The NZIA aims to boost the EU’s competitiveness, enhance manufacturing capacity for net-zero technologies and their components, as well as address barriers to scaling production in Europe. It aims to increase demand for renewable energy by implementing mandatory non-price criteria in procurement procedures for clean technologies and renewable energy auctions. Article 25 of the NZIA empowers the European Commission to adopt an implementing act establishing specific minimum requirements on environmental sustainability for public procurement procedures. This implementing act should be adopted by 30 March 2025. Moreover, it introduces a resilience criterion that requires public buyers to diversify supply sources and consider at least one criterion among social sustainability, cyber security and timely delivery obligations.  

The ESPR aims to promote sustainable and circular products, and supports the objectives set out in the 2020 Circular Economy Action Plan. It aims to significantly improve the circularity, energy performance and other environmental sustainability aspects of products placed on the EU market. It empowers the European Commission to establish, by means of implementing acts, mandatory Green Public Procurement requirements, in the form of technical specifications, award criteria, contract performance conditions or targets, for the purchase of products to which sustainability requirements (durability, repairability, resource efficiency, etc) will have to be defined by means of delegated acts, or for works or services where those products are used. Furthermore, the introduction of digital product passports will improve transparency by providing essential information on product sustainability. Public procurement authorities can use this information to make more informed decisions when evaluating tenders.

Looking ahead, the European Commission is expected to adopt delegated acts establishing sustainability requirements for product groups announced in advance in the multiannual working plan to be published by the Commission in 2025. A preliminary set of products, which the Commission is obliged to consider for inclusion in this working plan, has been included in Article 18(3) ESPR, and includes iron and steel;  aluminium; textiles, in particular garments and footwear; furniture, including mattresses; tyres; detergents; paints; lubricants; chemicals; energy related products for which ecodesign requirements are to be set for the first time or for which existing measures adopted pursuant to Directive 2009/125/EC are to be reviewed under this Regulation; and  information and communication technology products and other electronics.