Procura+ | Brussels 2022

Procura+

Seminar

2022

PROCURA+ SEMINAR 2022 SCHAERBEEK-BRUSSELS

The 2022 Procura+ Seminar organized by ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, hosted by the Municipality of Schaerbeek, Brussels, Belgium and carried out in collaboration with the COACH project, provided updates on latest European developments in sustainable, strategic, circular and innovation procurement. The cutting-edge event, which took place on 12-13 October 2022, provided practical support and exchange opportunities for all Procura+ participants, strategic partners and invited experts in the field.

Farm to Fork Procurement and discussions on collaborative agri-food initiatives anchored in territorial food systems were at the core of the 2022 Procura+ Seminar. For an overview of all the activities that took place during the event, check out the programme.

We appreciate the effort of all attendees and collaborators in contributing to creating such an insightful event.

Plenary presentations

Marketplace

The Procura+ Marketplace offers participants a chance to let every attendee know about their procurement activities. Participants can pitch procurement-related services or projects, or ask for peer support with a challenge they might be facing.

Zürich: Sustainable and innovative textiles procurement

Hot topic tables

Hot Topic Tables are a discussion between small groups of Seminar attendees. Table participants (up to 12 persons) exchanged ideas on new approaches, barriers and solutions, examples, mechanisms and necessary support to progress in the topic areas.

Capacity building sessions

Group 1 - How to make circular economy using public procurement strategically more attractive for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises? - This session explored how to engage circular economy and public procurement with micro and small and medium-sized enterprises, while complying with all legal requirements and ensuring a good value for money for public administrations. Session presentation and materials.
Group 2 - Global crises and impacts on sustainability: how can sustainable public procurement help? - It is evident that the most recent global crises have had an impact on sustainability. The pandemic, for instance, slowed global supply chains, affecting availability of material and several product categories and causing international shortages. This session explored the effects of the most recent global crises on the public procurement needs. Attendees took a close look together to find solutions for the day-to-day work of procurers.
Group 3 - Climate change mitigation and sustainable public procurement: embedding measurements and verification - The session focused on how public procurement can incentivize, compare and verify measurements of carbon reductions, on how to measure the environmental impacts of contracted goods, works and services meaningfully to track change over time and on how to set the minimum level of procurement criteria for products and services that are not eco-labelled. Session notes.
Group 4 - Structural challenges in Public Procurement - Structural challenges, such as change management and the organizational set up of sustainable, innovation and circular procurement in each organization, often stand in the way of achieving meaningful results. The session explored how mainstreaming public procurement's objectives in an integrated manner throughout each organization, and a reconsideration of public authorities' internal structure could maximize the real impact of Public Procurement. Session notes.
Group 5 - Public canteens as change makers - The session showcased how policy advocacy can play a relevant role and explored success factors and strategies based on the example of sustainable food procurement, which is one of the target areas of the EU Farm to Fork Strategy. The session was powered by the European Advocacy Campaign Buy Better Food, led by ICLEI. Buy Better Food campaign - Session notes.
Group 6 - How to effectively address "small farmers": pushing the COACH project's ambition towards a renewed Farm to Fork strategy - The following questions were the core drivers of the session’s discussion: 'How to ensure small farmers are linked to (public) consumption in cities? How to include them in tenders in legally valid terms? How can both local governments and farmers benefit without too much bureaucracy and risks?' The discussions benefited from inspiring examples from ongoing EU projects (SchoolFood4Change) and initiatives (EU Food Policy Coalition). Session notes.

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