In Malaysia, public procurement accounts for 12-15% of the GDP – this entails a huge potential to further transform the country towards a green economy. However, to date procurement is almost exclusively based on cost considerations. So far, ecological aspects only play a minor role in public procurement.
As part of the EU-funded project “Sustainable consumption and production patterns in Malaysia” and in collaboration with other key stakeholders such as the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, adelphi has designed an action plan for environmentally friendly public procurement. This action plan has now been adopted in the first session of a new national steering committee with over 20 involved ministries. In the SWITCH-Asia programme, the European Union is funding projects in the areas of sustainable consumption and production in Asia.
Several pilot projects will be implemented over a period of 18 months. This includes the application of life cycle assessments for individual product groups. Building on the gained experience, an environmentally friendly public procurement will be introduced in the entire field of public administration in Malaysia by 2015.