16 September 2026
The World Green Building Council’s (WorldGBC) Europe Regional Network (ERN) of 24 Green Building Councils and our regional partners welcomes the European Commission’s proposal for a new Public Procurement Regulation.
It is crucial that governments lead the way on climate action when it comes to their own procurement of services and projects. In the EU, public authorities spend around €2.6 trillion per year, around 15% of the EU’s total GDP, making public procurement one of the most powerful levers available for accelerating the built environment’s green transition.
In January 2026, WorldGBC’s ERN submitted a position paper on the revision of the EU’s procurement rules, calling for procurement to be used to drive an energy efficient, low emission and circular built environment. This proposal reflects some of what we called for, notably a decisive shift away from price-only contract awards and a firmer link between public building purchases and climate performance.
This proposal marks a shift away from contracts awarded on price alone. “Quality”, which includes environmental and social criteria, will be required to carry a minimum weighting of 30%, rising to 50% for labour-intensive contracts – a category that covers much construction and renovation work. New criteria on socially responsible procurement, innovation, and security and resilience are introduced alongside the Green Public Procurement (GPP) provisions.
Unlike other green provisions, the Regulation’s energy efficiency requirements are a real obligation, not an option: public buyers must purchase only products, services and works with high energy efficiency performance, wherever technically feasible. For buildings specifically, this means any building bought or newly rented by a public authority would need to meet EU Taxonomy climate criteria.
The Regulation also creates a mechanism through which the Commission could make GPP criteria mandatory for construction products in the future by drawing on the Construction Products Regulation (CPR).
Unlike the energy efficiency provisions, the Regulation’s circular economy and resource efficiency criteria remain entirely optional for public buyers. With the impending publication of the Circular Economy Act, we would encourage the Commission to match its ambition on energy efficiency by making the circular economy and emissions-reduction elements of this Regulation mandatory too.
The Regulation does not cross-reference the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD). Given the EPBD already sets out a framework for sustainable buildings, including a methodology for calculating life cycle global warming potential (GWP), we would like to see the Regulation cross-reference it explicitly. Requirements for all publicly procured renovation and construction should also go further than the EPBD’s own minimums.
As this proposal now moves into negotiation, the ERN, through the national Green Building Councils and more than 5,000 member companies, is ready to support the Commission and co-legislators.
Read WorldGBC’s position paper submitted to the European Commission on the revision of the EU’s procurement rules.