CITY MATCH LONDON -27-29 NOVEMBER 2024
Facilitating Low Carbon and Socially Responsible Delivery Solutions via Sustainable Public Procurement

This Procura+ CityMatch aimed to understand and optimise the impact of public procurement activities on transport patterns in cities – and to find innovative and sustainable delivery solutions for goods and services, which can help to address these challenges. The Greater London Authority (GLA) Group, is committed to using strategic and sustainable public procurement to contribute sustainable delivery solutions that can also be role models for the private sector, in line with London’s 2030 Net Zero Target.

The impact public procurement has on transportation patterns in cities is far reaching. Almost every product or service we buy leads to vehicle trips within cities – from waste collection trucks to the delivery of office supplies; from bus services to road maintenance staff travelling to a work site. Strategic and sustainable public procurement can help deliver future-proof sustainable delivery solutions that can be role models for the private sector, too.

As the aim of the Procura+ CityMatch is to facilitate exchange between different public authorities, the event highlighted different perspectives from across Europe as Procura+ participants discussed. Stavanger (Norway) highlighted how it is using mandatory requirements, award criteria and technical specifications to promote low carbon delivery solutions; Aalborg (Denmark) presented the EU-funded MoLo Hubs project, which seeks to reduce urban traffic by initiating and implementing new and convenient logistics service offers at urban mobility hubs; Copenhagen (Denmark) focused on its green and social requirements for supplier vehicles; Metropolitan City of Rome (Italy) emphasised how its Sustainable Logistics Metropolitan Plan improves air quality and accessibility. Finally, Las Rozas de Madrid (Spain) explained how it is using the Local Green Deals to reduce the carbon footprint of service supplier.

Of course, the hosts also got the opportunity to highlight their work.  Transport for London (TfL) showed how it is implementing green and social responsibility in its contracts. In accordance with the GLA Group Responsible Procurement Implementation Plan, from 1 July 2025, contracts that are over £1 million will be required to use zero emission vehicles for under 3.5 tonnes (N1 cars and M1 vans), while vehicles over 3.5 tonnes will need to be Low Emission Zone compliant. New contracts under £1 million will be subject to this requirement from 2027, and from 2025 will be asked to improve their environmental performance by showing efforts to achieve reduction of vehicle mileage and emissions. Finally, a study visit to Telent, a supplier of road and traffic services made clear how London’s demand for low emission vehicles encouraged them to transition to a greener fleet.

Tim Rudin, Head of Responsible Procurement at Greater London Authority/TfL, could look back at a succesful event: “it is great to have this knowledge and experience sharing with five European cities and regions. It was great to see how much we at TfL can learn from the delegates and our own suppliers.”