EUSAIR bringing the Green Deal to the Region

Environmental Issues and the European Green Deal Actions for 2050 – GPP framework and procedures

 

 

This is the first of a series of three workshops organized by Forum of the Adriatic and Ionian Chambers of Commerce, in collaboration with the University of Padua.

These workshops are financed by the DG REGIO in the context of the project “EUSAIR bringing the Green Deal to the region”, which aims to support the adoption of more sustainable practices in the organization of EUSAIR meetings.

The EUSAIR community, through its governance and stakeholders, exercises large-scale purchasing power in contracts for goods and services and sets the tone
on many important political files in the Adriatic-Ionian region.

It shall therefore take the lead to make Europe climate-neutral by 2050 a reality, establishing sustainability principles and promoting environmentally friendly and resource–efficient goods and services.

This first workshop aims to build a common understanding of environmental issues and the link between EU policies, programmes and regulation, production and consumption patterns.

 

PROGRAM

(Click on the speakers to download the presentations)

 

Moderated by Eleonora Tramannoni, Executive Officer Forum of the Adriatic and Ionian Chambers of Commerce

 

 

REPORT

In the framework of the Project “EUSAIR bringing the Green Deal to the region”,Forum of the Adriatic and Ionian Chambers of Commerce, in collaboration with the University of Padua, organized the first of three ONLINE EVENTS financed by the DG REGIO, with the aim of supporting the adoption of more sustainable practices in the organization of EUSAIR meetings. This first webinar was held on the 29th of November 2021.

The growing concern for environmental issues and the effects of climate change have led to the adoption of new development paradigms, which requires us to rethink the way products and services are conceived, starting from their very early design stage. In this context, the European Union is at the forefront of environmental policies and recognizes the central role of stakeholders and their habits toward a new model for the sustainable production and consumption of products.

The EUSAIR community, through its governance and stakeholders, exercises large-scale purchasing power in contracts for goods and services and sets the tone on many important political files in the Adriatic-Ionian region. It shall therefore take the lead to make Europe climate-neutral by 2050 a reality, establishing sustainability principles and promoting environmentally friendly and resource–efficient goods and services.

 

Moderating the debate, Eleonora Tramannoni, Executive Officer Forum of the Adriatic and Ionian Chambers of Commerce.

The meeting opened with a quick presentation of the Forum of Adriatic And Ionian Chambers of Commerce which is, together with the other two Fora, Uniadrion and FAIC, one of the major stakeholders of the European Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Area (EUSAIR). Those Associations together represent more than 130 institutions of the area.

The project’s aim is to raise environmental awareness and the adoption of more sustainable practices in the organizations of EUSAIR meeting in the post pandemic period. European Green Deal is a top priority for the European Union and we should consider it as a tool for improving people’s wellbeing by making Europe climate neutral. It is a demand for stronger actions coming from us, the citizens. The project intends to encourage EUSAIR Countries and stakeholders to act more sustainably in their everyday life in line with the objectives set by the European Green Deal.

The first speaker has been Alessandro Manzardo, Professor of Strategic Environmental Management, University of Padua, with an intervention named“EU Environmental policies: a proactive approach for sustainable consumption and production”. He highlighted how interesting it is to notice that the environment involves  a variety of aspects and Interconnection amongenvironmental compartments. He introduced the concept of “PlanetaryBoundaries” introduced some years ago that tells us that our world has a natural capacity of reacting to humans actions, but sometimes those actions have a very negative impact, and the planet doesn’t have the capacity to successfully answer to them and protect itself.
With a focus on climate change,  which is at the center of many European policies, we should be concerned because we have almost reached the capacity limits, we actually are highly over them. Environment is now our priority. We have some tools of action: the sustainable development goals have been Approved in 2015 by the United Nations, and refer to global sustainable challenges that need to be tackled by the international community; and also the EU Policy is at the forefront of environmental action with its action programs which focus on sectoral environmental priorities such as waste management, pollutants, emissions ruled by mandatory limits with the introduction of tools of voluntary adoption to manage environmental issues, the introduction of multidisciplinary approach towards environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainability to reach the goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions.
The EU Policy’s guiding principles for sustainable production and consumption, which is the subject at the core of this presentation, can be summarized in: Life Cycle Thinking: look at products and organizations in a life cycle perspective from cradle to grave perspective to avoid the shift of potential impacts among life cycle stages; Comprehensiveness: look at all of the potential relevant impacts to avoid the shift between environmental impact categories; System approach: consider the product system and the actual and potential conditions under which the product is actually used and managed.

 

The second speaker was Giacomo Luciani, Contact person for sustainable growth in Unit D1, DG Regional and Urban Policy, European Commission with his intervention named “The transition of the EUSAIR towards the European Green Deal”. His goal for this meeting was to highlight the synergies between the EUSAIR and the Green Deal  and to explain why and how to approach such a transition. He used 4 keywords to answer this important question:

–Solidity: The EUSAIR has already proved to be highly relevant in delivering the EGD (European Green Deal) in particular concerning the elimination of pollution. The goal is now to do more and to do better,

 – Complementarities: The EUSAIR actions are relevant for several EGD related documents: Example EUSAIR PILLAR 3 – ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY and EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 (page 5): “… in order to have a truly coherent and resilient Trans-European Nature Network …investments in green and blue infrastructure and cooperation across borders among Member States should be promoted and supported, including through the European Territorial Cooperation”. This also underline that the European Green Deal is something very practical and transversal , 

–Potentials: The EUSAIR offers a cooperation platform “fit for purposes” for supporting the implementation of the EGD actions, in order to face the common challenges in a coordinated way between al the stakeholders,

–Mutual benefits: The EUSAIR supports the EGD implementation and the EGD provides a common vision. 

 

The third speaker was Viviana Catalano, Partner of the Interreg Europe project GPP4GROWTH, with a presentation named “Green public procurement for resource-efficient regional growth”.  She introduced the GPP4Growth project and the Lombardy Region activities and best practices; GPP4Growth is a European project approved in the framework of the European INTERREG Europe 2014/2020 program which aims to create opportunities for public authorities to stimulate eco-innovation, resource efficiency and green growth through GPP, born from the idea that green purchases are an effective tool to achieve many of the objectives contained in the environmental strategies of the European Union.

Unfortunately there is still a lack of legal clarity in applying GPP criteria, of expertise and of resources, so not all regions are doing it; therefore GPP4Growth aspires to help Improve resource efficiency policies in partners territories, incorporating green public procurement (GPP), Exchange practices and experiences on the benefits and methods for implementing GPP to promote green growth, and Support public administrations and companies to adopt lifecycle cost approaches and improve the overall management of resources and waste.

Thanks to the Project, Lombardy Region approved the Action Plan for Lombardy Region green purchases in May 2020 aiming at encouraging the adoption of sustainable practices within public offices.

The fourth and last speaker was Alessandra Mascioli, CNR Italian Ministry of the Ecological Transition, with an intervention named “The approach of Italy on the implementation of Green Public Procurement procedures”. She introduced the participants the steps taken from Italy in order to go from a voluntary to a mandatory GPP framework giving us an excursus of the situation from 2003 to the present day.

In 2008 Italy saw the adoption of the GPP National Action Plan (NAP) and started the definition of the Minima Environmental Criteria (MEC), adopted by Decree of the Minister of Ecological Transition on several categories of supplies, services and works. These criteria are defined as “minima” because they are basic requirements, going beyond the legal requirements, to qualify contracts as “environmentally preferable” (green) in relation to the market offer. They are also called “minima” because they do not prejudice the possibility of introducing more “challenging” environmental requirements into the tender documents.

Before mandatory sectoral GPP criteria, very few contracting authorities used GPP criteria and the criteria differed from one tender to another. The effects on the market were not relevant; 2. Since the sectoral GPP criteria have become mandatory, finally in Italy the GPP practices and dissemination and training initiatives have started to multiply. The capacity building on this task is increased a lot in Italy and contracting authorities are much more expert to implement GPP practices.

 

Q&A

  • How can policy makers create a better field and regulations to promote a wider adoption of GGP?

Manzardo said that it’s very hard to make GPP mandatory all over Europe, but Environmental Criteria should be set as a priority, and considered as a plus in the market, in order to boost the GPP actions. Policy makers work every day in local bodies as well and they should be the first in adopting GPP Criteria.

Viviana Catalano agreed, saying that Lombardy Region’s idea was actually that of starting from their internal structure to set a good example at a regional level.

 

  • Usually more sustainable and responsible is more pricey, so how does the Minimum Environmental Criteria change the public Procurement?

The minimum criteria has to be there, if something is less expensive that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t follow the minimum environmental criteria, it is a way of assuring that at least the minimum is done.

 

  • Given that the GPP measures are expected to grow exponentially in the EU, what are the steps that the EU is taking in order to ensure a sufficient market offer?

Giacomo Luciani said that it’s related to what Vivana Catalano said, meaning that it is a mix of a number of actions from different levels; there are many policies going in the Green transition direction, and all of this is paving the way to the GPP procedures in the market.

 

Conclusions have been made by Prof. Manzardo: 

We have been able to analyze a very important topic from different perspectives, EUSAIR, Italy and Lombardy Region. We saw that we are on the right path, and results can already be seen, but we are still at the starting point, we need to keep going so that GPP becomes something that public institutions will want to actively adopt. Their role is fundamental, GPP is already practical and can already be applied. As long as there would be a demand to reduce environmental impact, there will be companies working to deliver new products and services in order to be competitive in this field.

The debate will continue during our following events, so stay in touch and follow us!

 

WATCH THE VIDEO RECORDING OF THE EVENT