The evaluation report on the Basque Country’s Green Procurement and Contracting Programme 2021–2025, published by the public company, Ihobe, indicates significant progress in the integration of environmental criteria into Basque public procurement, with results that exceed the implementation targets established. The review also identifies key challenges for the next cycle, such as strengthening membership, improving monitoring systems and engaging the private sector. 

During its first implementation cycle (2021–2025), the Basque Country’s 2030 Green Procurement and Contracting Programme has consolidated the incorporation of environmental criteria into Basque public procurement, becoming a strategic tool to move forward in sustainability, the energy transition and the circular economy. This is set out in the aforementioned report, which assesses the results obtained during the period and sets out the priorities for 2026–2030. 

Positive Balance

The assessment reflects an overall positive balance. The percentage of green public procurement in the priority categories reached 57% in 2025 in terms of the number of tenders and 55% in terms of economic volume, fulfilling or exceeding the interim target set for 2025. Across the Basque public procurement sector as a whole, green procurement accounted for 52% of tenders in number of tenders and 44% in terms of economic volume, which also exceeds the targets established. 

This progress is backed by major strengthening of the regulatory framework. During the period under review, green public procurement was incorporated into Law 10/2021 on Environmental Management in the Basque Country, which establishes the mandatory inclusion of environmental criteria in public procurement, and subsequently in Act 1/2024 on Energy Transition and Climate Change, which introduces explicit references to the carbon footprint and the decarbonisation of public procurement. Additionally, the Basque Government’s Directive 1/2023, of 7 March 2023 requires the incorporation of environmental clauses in procurement by the general administration, institutional administration and other entities that make up the public sector in the Basque Country.

Furthermore, the programme has strengthened the technical capacities of public administrations through services to ensure environmental compliance in tender documents, support tools, specialised training and forums for coordination between public bodies. 122 public authorities were assisted, 126 tender processes were made environmentally friendly, 145 technical enquiries were resolved, 12 tendency reports were drawn up and 181 professionals were trained between 2021 and 2025.

Areas for Improvement

However, the report also identifies clear areas for improvement. The main challenge is the level of participation in the programme, which is below initial forecasts. At the end of 2025, only 40 out of a foreseeable 75 public bodies had joined the programme and just two private organisations, compared with the target of 20 for the financial year. The assessment concludes that it will be necessary to harmonise the system for recording participation, strengthen incentives for participation and review the mechanisms for monitoring the commitments made by the participating entities. 

Other limitations detected include the lack of a specific framework to facilitate private-sector involvement, difficulties in homogeneously measuring the actual extent to which procurement has been made more environmentally friendly and the insufficient progress made in calculating the environmental and economic benefits associated with green procurement. Furthermore, differences have been observed between procurement categories and public bodies, as well as the fact that its implementation remains limited in some contracts of a greater economic volume. 

Looking ahead to the new cycle for 2026–2030, the report proposes moving away from a strategy focused on the number of environmentally-focused tenders towards a more impact-oriented model. Priorities include strengthening governance and inter-institutional coordination, improving monitoring systems through the use of analysis tools and artificial intelligence, mobilising entities with a higher capacity to drive change and promoting new ways of engaging the private sector. 

The assessment also highlights the new role of green public procurement in the European context. Its future application in community initiatives related to circular and low-carbon products, along with new tools, such as the Digital Product Passport or harmonised environmental measurement systems, will reinforce the role of green public procurement as a driver of market transformation.