Euro Parliament Committee Backs “Green Award” Purchasing Criteria for Public Vehicles

25 June 2008

A European Commission proposal to promote clean and energy-efficient road transport by requiring public authorities to consider not only the cost, but the environmental impact, of the vehicles that they plan to purchase was backed by the European Parliament’s Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety.

The total annual vehicle procurement by public authorities in the EU is estimated at 110,000 passenger cars, 110,000 light commercial vehicles, 35,000 trucks and 17,000 buses for the EU. The new proposal is expected to ensure a sufficiently substantial demand for clean and energy-efficient vehicles to prompt industry to develop and invest in environmentally-friendly vehicles. Total procurement of vehicles by public bodies accounts for some 16% of EU GDP.

The Commission proposal would require all public procurers to consider not only the purchase price of vehicles but also their environmental impacts (lifetime costs for fuel, CO₂ emissions and air pollution), and to use them as a criterion for purchase. It introduces “a harmonised and monetised method for clean and energy-efficient vehicle procurement for public transport.”

MEPs (Members of the European Parliament) want the “green award” environmental criteria, including fuel costs, to become mandatory as soon as 2010—two years earlier than the Commission proposal—but also to exclude certain vehicles from the proposal.

MEPs say the award criteria should be mandatory only for new vehicles. Vehicles used to provide operational support or maintain infrastructure, as well as ambulances, fire and rescue vehicles and highly specialized vehicles should all be excluded from the directive.

On the other hand, if public authorities want to retrofit vehicles with engines and replacement parts they should be asked to apply the same criteria as if purchasing a new car, unless the vehicles concerned have exceeded 75% of their total mileage.

In June 2006, the Environment Committee rejected a similar Commission proposal. The new proposal incorporates several of the committee’s requests, e.g. on the proposal’s scope, technology neutrality and the inclusion of CO₂ emissions.