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South Africa and Green procurement! |
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In a chat with an elderly family friend recently on climate change in South Africa, she excitedly got me interested in an article about her views on South Africa and green procurement. She is a PhD student at the University of South Africa and her research assesses green procurement practices in South African metropolitan municipalities.
Green procurement, according to Wikipedia is a spending and investment process typically associated with public policy where organizations practicing sustainable procurement meet their needs for goods, services, utilities and works not on a private cost-benefit analysis, but with a view to maximising net benefits for themselves and the wider world. Examples of green procurement range from the purchase of energy-saving light-bulbs to the commissioning of a new building from renewably sourced timber via organic food being served in a workplace canteen. The ultimate green procurement is the avoidance of the purchase altogether. Green procurement has been implicitly expressed in South Africa?s legislation and some provinces are keen to implement it in procurements. Unfortunately however, it was noted that since green procurement has not been explicitly stated as a law in South Africa, most procurement officials do not see it as mandatory and therefore do not take it seriously especially in local government. Through this article, I advocate for this law to be further implemented from the national to local government levels so as to to be at par with other countries that practice green procurement.
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4 Comments
If the right investments are made, this unique opportunity will be the catalyst for dramatic changes in the built environment and the fight against carbon emissions and climate change.
Collective actions are needed for green procurement as nothing is more powerful than the collective action of a billion people.
Posted 28-09-2014 21:26
Green procurement is the key to sustainable living.
Consumers also must insist & promote such products.
Posted 10-09-2014 16:40
Thanks for raising a very important point ,Barbara. This is an important aspect of sustainable development and all organisations , schools , universities , hospital and other institutions must go for sustainable/green purchasing. Our school's IT , canteen and purchase department has been told to buy products with improved recyclability , high recycled content , minimum packaging, utlising clean technology and avoid single use disposable items etc.
Posted 07-09-2014 02:44
Green procurement will be essential to our society in our generation. Ultimately, organizations and citizens will be able to have a wider view of the greener world. Thanks for sharing your article about South Africa's legislation and green procurement.
Posted 02-09-2014 23:25