One of the most useful tools when you want to introduce environmental criteria into procurement and bidding is environmental certification. Its usefulness is recognised by Law 9/2017 on Public Procurement, which explicitly includes environmental certificates in two forms: ecolabels and environmental management systems.

With the aim of clarifying the use of ecolabels and environmental management systems in public procurement so as to allow the Basque public sector to use these tools safely, the public company Ihobe has published the “Guía práctica sobre el uso de las certificaciones ambientales en la compra y contratación pública verde" (Practical guide on using environmental certificates in green public procurement)” which provides recommendations, advice and a wide range of examples to clarify their use. The guide, which was prepared with attractive visual content, culminates with information sheets on how to avoid the most common errors when using these tools.

Ecolabels

Ecolabels are any document, certificate or accreditation that confirms that the products, processes or procedures to be contracted meet the environmental requirements. They make green procurement easier by helping us define technical specifications, award criteria and environmental performance conditions.

These labels include the following elements: the standard, which defines the list of specific criteria to be met by products (for example, the percentage of recycled material, exclusion of certain harmful substances or maximum energy consumption) and/or the method for calculating the environmental impact; the certification, i.e. assessment and accreditation with the corresponding certificate to show that products meet the requirements; and the label or logo, which displays compliance with the standard on the product, packaging or technical data sheet.

The standard is used to define the environmental characteristics and the certificate or label verifies compliance with these characteristics

Regarding their use in public tenders: it is recommended that they be used to define technical requirements, i.e. obligatory requirements, when the responsiveness of the market is known - which bidders can comply with - or when the administration has the purchasing power to drive the market and the market can respond to the demand.

However, they should be included as award criteria, i.e. as criteria that can be assessed, when the responsiveness of the market to demand is not known or when the administration cannot drive the market. Incorporating them as an assessable criterion avoids the risk of not receiving any offers or having to reject offers due to non-compliance with the criterion if it were mandatory.

Using them under special performance conditions is less frequent as, in most cases, ecolabels serve to define the characteristics of the work, service or supply required and are, therefore, mandatory (specifications) or voluntary (award criteria) essential technical requirements rather than additional conditions.

Other labels or supporting documentation must always be accepted if the bidding company proves that they are equivalent to those required in the specifications.

Types

There is a wide variety of ecolabels on the market and not all of them are equivalent or provide us with the same type of environmental information. There are many differences between them:

• Due to their mandatory or voluntary nature,
• Due to the type of requirements and how they have been defined,
• Due to their scope and level of requirements
• Due to the way in which compliance is certified.

The easiest to use in public procurement are regulatory ecolabels, which are mandatory and regulated by the EU or by state regulations. The most common are hazard pictograms, energy efficient pictograms (“Products that require energy labels”) and consumption and CO2 emissions pictograms for cars and vans.

And voluntary ecolabels, which define specific criteria and thresholds to be met in order to obtain certification. They identify the most environmentally friendly products without the need for excessive technical knowledge. These include Type I ecolabels in accordance with the ISO 14024 international standard, such as EU Ecolabel, Blue Angel, Nordic Swan and TCO Development for electronic equipment.

There are other “environmental leadership” certificates, called Semi Type I Ecolabels, which focus on specific sectors, on the impacts of the different phases of a product's life cycle, and/or on major impacts, such as energy or water consumption. In our market, the most common ones are for the food sector: such as EU Green Leaf or Eusko Label; the wood industry, such as FSC and PEFC; textiles, such as Claim Standard; computer equipment, such as ENERGY STAR; and the construction sector, such as BREEAM.

Ecolabels certify technical requirements, award criteria and performance conditions. And environmental management systems certify technical or professional competence

Lastly, there are other types of ecolabels that simply certify compliance with certain contractual requirements: self-declared environmental claims (made by companies for information purposes and usually bearing their own stamps or logos) in accordance with the ISO 14021 quality standard, and environmental product declarations (EPDs), which present the quantitative impacts of a product in a standardised way, in accordance with ISO 14025 and the EN 15804 European standard for construction products and services. These include the International EPD® System, Aenor's GlobalEPD and Programa DAPconstrucción.

Environmental Management Systems (EMS)

The other large certification group comprises the Environmental Management Systems (EMS), which can be requested to attest to the technical or professional competence of a company in all types of work and service contracts, except for supply contracts.

EMS do not focus on products that can be manufactured by the entity, but on its operations. They serve to demonstrate that the organisation has assessed the impacts of its activity, that it has defined improvement objectives and measures to reduce these impacts, and that it has monitoring mechanisms to ensure that the procedures defined are implemented and to monitor the results.

The main EMS certification schemes are EMAS (Eco-Management and Audit Scheme) and ISO 14001 (International Environmental Management System). As with ecolabels, other appropriate documentation equivalent to the system requested must be accepted; for instance, the use of Type I ecolabels, which increasingly certify services such as indoor cleaning services, printing, tourist accommodation and workshops, among others.