Ihobe was at the Procura+ Seminar, Europe’s largest sustainable public procurement forum. The event, organised by ICLEI, the Local Governments for Sustainability Network, was held in the Netherlands on 8 and 9 October; it gathered over 100 people from four continents together to search for common solutions to the main challenges of green procurement.

The meeting took place at a particularly key moment in Europe given the revision of the Public Procurement Directive in the pipeline. The European Investment Bank presented a report on circular public procurement at the event.

The event has highlighted the need to search for innovative approaches that put sustainability at the heart of tendering

The forum was organised into different working groups made up of representatives of the public entities at the event. Specifically, Ihobe took part in several of those groups in which the following themes were discussed: 

• Tools and practical methods to foster circular public procurement
• Driving green public procurement throughout Europe with the CO₂ performance ladder
• Strategic procurement for a resilient future: integrating sustainability, innovation, the social value and circularity 
• Sustainable procurement in action: oversight, management and measurement
• Monitoring the impact of green pubic procurement
• Revision of the EC public procurement directives

Procura+ showed how all public organisations, regardless of their sector, their geography or their level of government, are facing the same challenges when trying to incorporate social and/or environmental criteria in tendering processes. Those challenges include lack of training and incentives by the teams drafting the specifications, difficulties to ensure the correct implementation of the clauses included, and barriers to measuring environmental benefits. 

The solutions included cooperation and coordination among stakeholders, developing skills such as toolboxes or training – both for supply and demand –, and innovative approaches that place sustainability at the heart of the tendering process. 

The next Green Public Procurement Plan of the Basque Government 2026-2030 will draw on the best practices identified in this forum in order for green public procurement to make a greater contribution to achieving the environmental policy goals, and ensuring the Basque Country continues to be a benchmark region in the use of this instrument.