New Scottish Procurement Policy Note

The new policy note clarifies expectations with respect to climate and circular economy considerations, aligning recently strengthened climate change reporting duties and current procurement policy and legislation which already requires public bodies to consider and act on opportunities to improve environmental wellbeing. It highlights that public bodies should use their public procurement spend to support climate and circular economy ambitions.

2. The key points are:

• The global climate emergency is a strategic national priority and forms a central tenet of a green recovery;
• New regulations introduced in November 2020 require Scottish public bodies to report on, where applicable, “targets for reducing indirect emissions of greenhouse gases” by 2022;
• Public bodies should demonstrate in their organisational Procurement Strategies how their organisation will prioritise and take account of climate and circular economy in their procurement activity and, reporting ongoing progress against these commitments in their annual procurement reports, demonstrating how they are using procurement to support Scotland’s response to the global climate emergency;
• The Scottish Government’s Sustainable Procurement Tools are available to all public bodies and include indicators and guidance to support Scottish public sector buyers to consider and act on a number of climate change considerations;
• While this SPPN focusses on public procurement, cross-functional working will be required to align corporate commitments and timelines to climate change commitments; and
• We would encourage public bodies to focus their energies on effecting change with reduced emissions.

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