Green procurement in Norway; a survey of practices at the municipal and county level

Consumer pressure is usually considered as one of the major drivers for more environmental friendly products. During the last decade an increasing focus on public procurement has emerged as an important contributor to that pressure. In this paper we focus on the role of municipalities and counties in green public procurement. Based on surveys we investigate to what degree green public procurement is implemented in Norwegian municipalities and counties and which capabilities are critical for successful green procurement. We both investigate to what degree environmental information is requested in call for tenders and also to what degree the information is actually used in the final selection of supplier. The information gathered from the municipalities and counties is compared with information obtained from potential suppliers to see if suppliers and purchasers agree on the importance of environmental demands in the selection of suppliers. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.