Breaking News - Tariff Support - The Chamber is your source for Tariff Updates. Check out our page for the latest Tariff Resources, SUpport & Events
Peterborough + Kawarthas Chamber of Commerce
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Board of Directors
    • Staff Directory
    • Careers
  • Events
    • Calendar
    • Host a Chamber Event
    • Monthly >
      • The Business Exchange (TBX)
      • ChamberAM
      • Not-for-Profit Group (NFP)
    • Annual >
      • Luminary Awards
      • Seniors Showcase
      • PK Excellence
    • Campaigns and Connections >
      • Sales Lead Network
      • 26 Coffees
      • #lovelocalptbokawarthas campaign
    • 26 Coffees Program
  • Membership
    • Join Us
    • Benefits >
      • Chambers Plan
    • Profile and Sponsorships
    • Resources
    • Members Only
  • News
    • Voice of Business Podcast
    • Voice of Business
    • The Business Beat
    • Subscribe to e-Newsletter
  • Resource Hub
  • Directory
  • Advocacy
    • Policy Resolutions
    • Advocacy at Work
    • Advocacy Wins
    • Subscribe to e-Newsletter
  • Breaking News - Tariff Support
    • Updates
    • Resources
    • Support
    • Trade Analytics
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Board of Directors
    • Staff Directory
    • Careers
  • Events
    • Calendar
    • Host a Chamber Event
    • Monthly >
      • The Business Exchange (TBX)
      • ChamberAM
      • Not-for-Profit Group (NFP)
    • Annual >
      • Luminary Awards
      • Seniors Showcase
      • PK Excellence
    • Campaigns and Connections >
      • Sales Lead Network
      • 26 Coffees
      • #lovelocalptbokawarthas campaign
    • 26 Coffees Program
  • Membership
    • Join Us
    • Benefits >
      • Chambers Plan
    • Profile and Sponsorships
    • Resources
    • Members Only
  • News
    • Voice of Business Podcast
    • Voice of Business
    • The Business Beat
    • Subscribe to e-Newsletter
  • Resource Hub
  • Directory
  • Advocacy
    • Policy Resolutions
    • Advocacy at Work
    • Advocacy Wins
    • Subscribe to e-Newsletter
  • Breaking News - Tariff Support
    • Updates
    • Resources
    • Support
    • Trade Analytics

How to procure a green economy

9/12/2022

 
Picture
Guest Column by David Billedeau, Senior Director of Natural Resources, Environment and Sustainability with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and Nicholas Palaschuk, Economic Policy Researcher with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce
 
The Government of Canada is rightly focused on achieving net zero by 2050. Yet, Ottawa is still resisting implementing procurement policies to support a green economy.
 
The federal government is the single largest buyer in the country. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), it is estimated that the procurement of goods and services accounts for nearly 33 per cent of all federal government spending, and 13.3 per cent of national GDP. With nearly $22-billion in procurement spending per year, the federal government is in a perfect position to integrate environmental sustainability considerations into procurement decision-making processes and drive progress toward a net-zero economy.
 
To achieve net zero, it is time for all levels of government to get serious about green procurement policies.
 
The federal government can deepen demand for environmentally preferable goods and services that validate low-carbon innovations and increase their use throughout Canada. This not only incentivizes industrial low-carbon investments but drives emissions reductions, spurs commercialization of Canadian-made goods/services, enhances the global competitiveness of Canadian businesses, and stimulates clean and sustainable job creation.
 
With over 56 governments worldwide implementing green procurement policies as an instrument of strategic innovation to support the low-carbon transition, it is perplexing why Canada is dragging its heels.
 
Calls for greening the procurement process are by no means new to Ottawa. In 1994, the federal government received its first instructions to develop a government-wide approach to green procurement. With more explicit commitments coming from the 2006 Policy on Green Procurement, it appears as though the federal government is not completely apathetic to the idea of introducing environmental considerations into procurement spending. While most recent efforts on procurement, including the 2017 Greening Government Strategy, help clarify how procurement policies might be leveraged to help reach net-zero commitments (e.g., buildings, fleet electrification, clean electricity), these efforts are staggered and show little adeptness to meaningfully engage with new industry (e.g., small- to medium-sized enterprises, also known as SMEs) and community stakeholders (e.g., indigenous communities).
 
Canada needs to revamp its nearly 30-year-old procurement system.
 
A recent 2022 Hewlett-Packard report shows that the current federal procurement system fails to sufficiently integrate sustainability in evaluative processes, and has limited consideration for material environmental issues—much less the total cost of ownership over the lifecycle of goods or services.
 
The principle of obtaining the best value for taxpayer money currently translates to a national system that uses cost-based assessments as the main guide to decision-making. This policy approach continues to present significant barriers to Canada’s net-zero commitments as it overlooks key sustainability criteria tied to product life cycles and does little to reward those driving innovation.
 
While integrating environmental considerations and deepening industry and community participation in procurement policies is no small measure, there are steps Canada can take.
 
First, aligning green procurement standards across federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal levels of government will enable businesses to align organizational spending with sustainability values. With the majority of public infrastructure owned at the sub-national level, we believe an increased emphasis should be placed on co-ordinating green public procurement processes and metrics across all levels of government. Creating shared processes and understandings will foster nationwide cohesion and reduce the confusion that stems from businesses navigating a patch-worked regulatory environment. The Canadian Collaboration for Sustainable Procurement network has created a guide to engaging local government officials and driving green procurement practices throughout municipal initiatives. Using such efforts as a launchpad to scale across the country and up to the federal level will enable businesses to pursue green innovations more readily and proactively.
 
Second, Canada should develop a national industrial decarbonization strategy. With 20 per cent of Canada’s exports coming from the oil and gas industry, the need for a strategic and industrial-led approach to cross-sector decarbonization is necessary. Canada’s current approach of using broad policy levers (e.g., carbon pricing), while important, fails to drive the growth of new green industries at the rate needed to meet national net-zero commitments. While notable efforts have been made in the formation of the Economic Strategy Tables and Industry Strategy Council, current one-off investments are spread thin across a handful of industries. Much like that developed by the U.K. government, a national strategy that builds on Canada’s competitive advantage will help establish consensus on specific goals, processes, and systems to manage and monitor the integration of sustainability within public procurement. More importantly, it will help clarify how Canadian industries can decarbonize in line with net-zero commitments while building competitive advantage and without pushing emissions abroad.
 
Lastly, incorporating the total cost of ownership (TCO) as a procurement criterion will help create a link between “best value” and the growth of the low-carbon economy. Defined as the practice of capturing all associated costs incurred by the purchasing party when purchasing from external providers, integrating TCO would directly address a lingering challenge in Canadian procurement that prioritizes short-term savings at the expense of green innovation. Focusing on core purchasing processes such as supplier selection, contract negotiations and performance management, the use of TCO is well suited to an SME-dominated business landscape—helping to identify hidden costs throughout the acquisition, operation and disposal of goods/services. In turn, this will reduce the risk of low-carbon innovations and drive decarbonization through green business competition.
 
This is how the government can begin to create the type of market signals that incentivize green innovation and help Canadian companies scale up to gain a foothold in low-carbon markets and credibility in global supply chains.
 
While Canada’s current approach to procurement should be disconcerting, it highlights the breadth of potential opportunities that can be realized through the meaningful integration of sustainability into public sector procurement. We believe that Ottawa assuming a leadership position in greening procurement will have a ripple effect throughout the economy.
 
If Canada is to have a chance of realizing its net-zero ambitions, we need a renewed focus on green procurement that creates inclusive, outcome-based partnerships between the public and private sectors.
Picture

Comments are closed.

    Author

    The Peterborough and the Kawarthas Chamber of Commerce acts as a catalyst to enhance business growth, opportunity, innovation, partnerships and a diverse business community. 

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    January 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Copyright Greater Peterborough Chamber of Commerce.  ​All rights reserved.
175 George Street North, Peterborough, ON, K9J 3G6
Phone: (705) 748-9771  |  (705) 743-2331  
Home    |    Calendar    |   Site Map   |    Privacy    |    Accessibility
Join the Chamber
Picture
MemberClicks