Background
Public procurement in the EU amounts to 2 trillion EUR or 14 percent of total GDP. This makes it a strategic and important area for sustainable development. However, in the absence of mandatory rules, contracting authorities across the EU today fail to utilise its full potential to prevent and mitigate adverse human rights and environmental impacts affecting workers and communities along global value chains. 55 percent of procurement procedures in the EU still use lowest price as the only award criterion, indicating neglect of social and environmental aspects when purchasing goods and services.

This webinar will shed light on what is needed to enhance and use public procurement as an effective tool to support sustainable development across EU member states. Swedwatch and EEB will run you through some of the latest developments concerning EU public procurement and related EU initiatives on Ecodesign for Sustainable Products (ESPR) and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence (CSDDD). The event specifically aims to raise awareness amongst civil society organisations and map their interest for further engagement on relevant files.

Tentative agenda

• Opening remarks – EEB & Swedwatch
• Reflections and developments on EU public procurement
  – The importance of revising the 2014 EU Public Procurement Directive – Swedwatch
  – Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) – EEB
  – Public Procurement & CSDDD – EEB
  – Ongoing outreach and advocacy efforts – UNI Europa
• Q&A and interactive exercise to map interest in campaign/ESPR/CSDDD/other.
• Discussion on joint statement: content, objective & next steps

The meeting is only for civil society representatives.