Over the last several years, an increasing number of governments have launched green public procurement (GPP) and energy efficient procurement (EPP) programs to demonstrate leadership in adopting eco-friendly purchasing practices, reduce the environmental impacts of products, mitigate climate change, improve resource efficiency, reduce energy use, and encourage environmentally sustainable economic growth. Developing effective monitoring and evaluation (M&E) mechanisms is critical to ensuring that these programs are effective.

While there are many resources available on implementing GPP programs, few of them help policymakers develop M&E systems. The SEAD Guide for Monitoring and Evaluating Green Public Procurement Programs seeks to address this gap and provide policymakers and procurement officials with:

• An overview of the benefits of monitoring and evaluating EEP/GPP programs;
• A presentation of different types of M&E systems that can be implemented to achieve different policy objectives; and
• Key lessons learned, which draw on over 20 case studies and international examples.

The Guide outlines the following key steps in developing an approach for green public procurement:

Additionally, the Guide offers the following lessons for policymakers:

• Embed M&E requirements during policy design; early planning of M&E systems can help to better define EEP/GPP policy objectives, reduce costs, and minimize technical or operational difficulties during deployment;
• Create M&E systems that utilize existing processes, tracking systems, and available data;
• Communicate results with indicators that are easy to understand; and
• Increase compliance through economic and/or reputational incentives, and by integrating EEP/GPP into existing management systems.

The SEAD Guide for Monitoring and Evaluating Green Public Procurement Programs was written by EcoInstitut Barcelona, with support from CLASP.