Criteria Step - Procurement Criteria from a Lifecycle Perspective

The Criteria Step provides an overview of available criteria for fossil-free and circular procurement. For the fossil-free part, this includes PCR rules for commonly encountered product groups that can be directly referenced in a procurement document. For the circular part, it includes action-specific criteria for various aspects from a lifecycle perspective, with suggestions for verification to ensure compliance with the criteria.

Public procurement faces perhaps its greatest challenge in the ongoing transition towards a sustainable society—procuring fossil-free and circular products on a larger scale. To support and assist procurement professionals in achieving this, there is a significant need for practical tools that can aid in setting and following up on climate goals and targets.

Target-oriented procurement work must be based on quantified information about the climate impact of products expressed in carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e), to align with the information requirements set by international commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. For this, LCA calculations according to internationally accepted principles are required.

Purpose of The Criteria Step

An important purpose of The Criteria Step is to contribute to a common method for setting requirements in daily procurement work with a fossil-free and circular focus. The objective is, among other things, to enable procurement professionals to fairly and objectively compare bids concerning the climate impact of products. For the fossil-free work, this is ensured through requirements for the use of equivalent principles for LCA calculations by referring to specific PCR documents.