Leveraging the CO2 Performance Ladder for green public procurement

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Construction and the built environment are both carbon and resource intensive. In Ireland, construction and demolition alone generate over 50 per cent of all waste. Along with reducing carbon emissions and waste in public sector projects, green public procurement (GPP) can drive market change and support innovation within the construction industry.

The government's annual public sector purchasing accounts for a large part of Ireland’s overall economic activity and demand. In 2023, public procurement accounted for €18.5bn of spending, representing almost 10 per cent of Ireland's GDP. This gives Ireland’s public sector significant influence to stimulate the provision in the marketplace of goods and services which are more resource- efficient and less polluting.

Furthermore, the public sector now has a responsibility to promote green procurement, to support Ireland’s environmental and wider sustainable development objectives.

This duty is highlighted in the Climate Action Plan as it states that the public sector will lead by example, embedding climate actions as a central value, relentlessly focusing on continuous improvement that delivers real progress.

The CO2 Performance Ladder - a powerful tool to reduce carbon emissions To mainstream GPP in Ireland and support faster decarbonisation of our built environment, the Irish Green Building Council (IGBC) in collaboration with the Foundation for Climate Friendly Procurement and Business – SKAO, is now running a two-year pilot to bring the CO₂ Performance Ladder tool to Ireland.

The CO₂ Performance Ladder was created over 15 years ago in the Netherlands as a user- friendly, socially responsible, and affordable tool that harnesses the power of public procurement. The CO₂ Performance Ladder is a practical instrument that can be used to stimulate structural CO₂ reduction through procurement. More specifically, it provides an award advantage in tenders for applicants that ensure the implementation of an effective CO₂ management system.

Recognised as a best practice in green procurement by several bodies such as the OECD and IPCC, the ladder is used for one in ten European tenders in the Netherlands. Over 300 contracting authorities across Belgium and the Netherlands (including national ministries, municipalities, and other semi-public bodies) already use the ladder in their tendering processes, while over 5,000 organisations have already been certified on the ladder as a carbon management system. Research from CE Delft and the University of Utrecht shows that organisations using the CO₂ Performance Ladder reduce their carbon emissions twice as fast as average, leading to large carbon emission reduction and behaviour change.

The ladder has received an enthusiastic response from the market since its launch in Ireland in April 2023. The tool is already being piloted by Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), with other contracting authorities expecting to use the ladder over the coming months. The use of the CO₂ Performance Ladder can enable Irish governments and businesses to translate their climate ambition into reality. With a certificate on the ladder, companies are rewarded with a tangible award advantage during the tendering process. The ladder consists of five levels: Up to level 3, an organisation that obtains a certificate on the ladder reduces its own carbon emissions within the organisation and all its projects.

From level 4 and 5, the organisation also aims to reduce CO₂ emissions from the business chain and sector. A contractor must indicate in the tender that it will perform the contract on one of the five ambition levels on the ladder. The higher the ‘step’, the more effort the contractor is investing in CO₂ reduction. Making a commitment to a higher-level can result in a higher award advantage, thereby increasing the probability of winning the contract, and enabling contracting authorities to stimulate the sustainable economy. The commissioning party decides the award advantage an organisation can receive on each level of the ladder.

Organisations interested in harnessing the power of procurement by piloting the CO₂ Performance Ladder, or in learning more about it, should get in touch with the IGBC’s CO₂ Performance Ladder programme manager Rachel Loughrey at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.