Kolding is the seventh largest city in Denmark. Kolding was a founding Participant and the Chair of Procura+ from 2004 - 2007. Kolding was a European frontrunner for sustainable procurement, first implementing Green Public Procurement (GPP) in 1998. The GPP policy was revised in 2012.
![]() | 87k Population |
![]() | 2004 Date joined |
In 1994, the Town Council unanimously signed the Aalborg Charter, and 10 years later adopted the Aalborg Commitment. The Municipality Plan 1998-2009 commits Kolding to strengthen its environmental efforts. The City Council’s "Guidelines for purchasing and tendering, 2010" states that: all tendering must take the environment, working conditions and socio-political considerations into account. Kolding began the implementation of Green Public Procurement (GPP) in 1998 and the GPP policy was revised in 2012. Kolding adopted the plan that 75% of food in the communal kitchens must be organic by the end of 2015, as an objective of the Green Cities project.
Environmental questionnaires are integrated into all calls for tenders and include various questions regarding the supplier’s business, the product and the packaging. For every product group there are minimum requirements that must be met. All other questions provide the basis to compare the environmental standards of the products offered. Assessment is facilitated by a point score system. In the end environment is assessed on par with price, quality and level of service. Kolding has changed virtually 100% of its purchasing policies to include environmental considerations.
Monitoring is done on a yearly basis for framework agreements and is reported on as a part of municipal green procurement.
Kolding incorporates GPP specifications and criteria in the following:
The Green Purchasing Award 2015 was given to Kolding Municipality for the purchase of eco-friendly hydrogen vehicles, and the establishment of partnerships in implementing both the vehicles and a hydrogen filling station within the municipality. Kolding already has electric cars, and the purchase of hydrogen vehicles is therefore seen (at this moment) as a supplement, since they have a greater range and can be refuelled in minutes. Kolding wants to create a foundation that enables citizens to use cars that are driven by sustainable energy in the future.
For further information on the activities of Kolding visit their website:
or email procurement@iclei.org