LS na China

Sustainable Public Procurement in Urban Administrations in China -
An action under EuropeAid's SWITCH-Asia programme
Paper No. 14
Advancing Sustainable Public
Procurement in Urban China
Policy Recommendations
Sebastian Philipps
UNEP/Wuppertal Institute Collaborating Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production
Valentin Espert
Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy
Urda Eichhorst
Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy
October 2011
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project Outline
The project Sustainable Public Procurement in Urban Administrations in China (SuPP-Urb
China) aims at adapting and using sustainable public procurement standards in municipal Public
Procurement Centres in Tianjin, Qinhuangdao and Lanzhou and at mainstreaming its application
in China. The project contributes to reduced resource consumption and emissions. Thus, it
supports achieving the environmental targets of China's 11th five-year plan and fosters
sustainable consumption at the city leveI.
In September 2006, China's Ministry of Finance and the State Environmental Protection
Administration (now the Ministry for Environmental Protection) issued a directive promoting
green public procurement, which is accompanied by a frequently updated "green purchasing list"
of eco-&iendly products and producers. Supposedly the listed products should receive priority in
public procurement, but in reality, implementation at the local leveI can still be improved. The
project addresses this challenge by providing assistance with the design and implementation of
sustainable public procurement (SPP). The project activities are:
•
Project preparation and good practice
Screening and framework conditions for SPP
Implementation of SPP in three target cities
Dissemination in China and Asia
•
•
•
National Policy Dialogue
The consortium is led by the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy. Local
partners from Qinhuangdao, Tianjin and Lanzhou implement public procurement. The
Environmental Management College of China, Nankai University, Lanzhou Environmental
Protection Bureau and the UNEP /Wuppertal Institute Collaborating Centre on Sustainable
Consumption and Production support the cities in their implementation activities.
•
For further information please visit: www.emcc.cn/supp-urb.com
How to cite this paper:
Philipps, S., Espert, V. and Eichhorst, U. (2011) Advancing Sustainable Public Procurement in
Urban China. Policy Recommendations, SuPP-Urb-China Paper No. 14_EN, Wuppertal
Institute: Wuppertal.
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for Climate, Environment
and Energy
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Executive Summary
Public procurement is an important element of China's public policy and market development.
Through Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP)-i.e. the integration of social and environmental
criteria in the public procurement process-it can also play a major role for the enhancement of
environmental awareness and the turn towards a sustainable development of economy and
society. Because of its multiple and partly conflicting goals the successful implementation of SPP
is however dependent on a viable legal and regulatory framework and the further development of
local capacity.
The project Sustainable Public Procurement in Urban Administrations in China (SuPP-Urb
China) funded by EuropeAid's SWITCH-Asia Programme looked into the implementation of
SPP in three Chinese cities for a period of three years. Chinese and European partners jointly
analysed potentials and chalienges and worked towards the provision of best practices for scaling
up in China and beyond. In this policy recommendation some of the major findings based on the
project are introduced and linked to the bigger picture of SPP development in China.
The national policy framework for public procurement in China is weli established. It provides a
promising basis for the further enhancement of the public procurement system and in particular
for fostering SPP. In general, the Chinese public procurement system can be described as a
hierarchical and centralised multi-Ievel system, which is characterized by its top-down structure.
The national government formulates the policy framework for public procurement. Based on this
national framework, sub-central government bodies undertake the actual budget aliocation for
carrying out public procurement, specification and customisation of regulations, as weli as
training of procurement officers. Public Procurement Centres (PPCs) are responsible for
implementing the directives through public procurement plans. Approaches for the
improvement of SPP and its policy framework have to take this structure into consideration.
At present, the major policy instrument for the implementation of SPP in China are two public
procurement lists with environmentaliy friendly and energy efficient products that have to be
prioritised by the PPCs in their SPP work. These lists play a crucial role for raising awareness of
sustainable production and consumption among the actors of public procurement. However, the
implementation of national directives such as these lists strongly depends on local structural and
institutional conditions under which SPP is being conducted.
Particularly Public Procurement Centres are pivotal for the success of SPP policy. Barriers and
opportunities of existing laws and regulations can therefore be best observed on this level of SPP
governance. Structural and regional differences such as the capacity within and resources of
Public Procurement Centres, local political economy and the central-coastal divide are reasons
for selective policy implementation. In order to support the implementation of high-Ievel SPP in
ali parts of China the regulatory and policy framework for SPP has to be enhanced.
In the short term, the national procurement lists of green and energy-efficient products may be
further revised and strengthened in order to reach their full potential. Namely, the quality and
performance standard of environmental products could be improved and the product range
included in the lists could be widened. In the mid to long-term, government may move beyond
Advancing S ustainable Pub/ie Proeurement in Urban China 1

predefmed product lists. A potencial new design could include specifying only obligatory
environmental criteria or benchmarks, but not concrete manufacturers.
Additional measures to improve the rate of SPP may include the introduction of life cycle costing
of ali products in order to reveal the true costs over the lifetime of the product. This could at
least partialiy overcome the cost discrepancy between green and standard products, which often
leads to the purchase of less env1ronmentally friendly products.
The above suggestions need to form part of an integrated policy package, which takes the
multiple levels of SPP govemance into account and which offers standards for the translation of
national directives into practical use-oriented guidelines. To be successful, such a policy package
will also have to include a strong capacity building component.
Central government may provide a national capacity building programme for public procurement
centres on issues such as life cycle costing, technical aspects of SPP tendering, information
management, product assessment and social criteria. An information and knowledge platform on
the evaluation and experience of SPP approaches would further enable mutual learning among
public procurement practitioners. As local-based Public Procurement Centres are responsible for
the implementation of SPP, a national capacity building programme has to be supplemented by
internaI capacity building campaigns.
A national monitoring and evaluation system should accompany these efforts and ensure a
consecutive track record of SPP in China. For ali this, the experience from the three project cities
and the capacity developed among the partners can be valuable resources to draw upon in the
future.
Advancing Sustainable Public Procurement in Urban China 11

Content
Content Ui
1. lntroduction 1
2. SPP in Urban China 3
2.1. National Framework 3
2.2. SPP in urban administrations 6
2.3. The SuPP-Urbproject experience 7
3. Challengesand opportunities for SPP in China 9
3.1. The nationallevel. 9
3.2. The urban level " 9
3.3. Central-localdynamics 10
4. Potential PolicyApproaches 11
4.1. National procurement framework 11
4.2. Urban level. 12
4.3. Central-localarchitecture 13
5. Conclusions 14
6. Literature and suggestedfurther reading 16
Advancing S ustainable Public Procurement in Urban China 111

1. Introduction
Public procurement is a highly relevant policy instrument in many countries: if combined, the
purchasing power of all state agencies can exceed the capacities of the biggest private players by
faro When utilising this huge lever, govemments can incentivise the market without directly
regulating market actors. For two reasons trus is particularly relevant in China: first, liberalisation
continues and direct state intervention decreases respectively; second China still has an immense
state-owned industry sector and govemment apparatus. As a consequence, public procurement is
a critical element of China's public policy and market development-including the field of
sustainable development. Here, state consumption can raise public awareness for environmental
protection and social issues; promote green consumption and push industries towards cleaner
production, technological innovation and improved working conditions. The respective
integration of social and environmental criteria in the public procurement process is generally
referred to as sustainable public procurement (SPP).
Learning about the potentials of public procurement, governments often try US11lgit to
simultaneously realise a variety of goals. However, while traditional public procurement is mostly
based on economic determinants such as cost-efficiency and the maximisation of value for
money, SPP is characterised by multiple goals and objectives (social, ecological, economic). This
offers great opportunities for balanced economic development and consumption pattetns but
also generates conflicts of interest and other barriers towards successful implementation: tapping
the potentials of SPP comes at the costs of higher complexity in monitoring and facilitation.
Hence, legal measures and an adequate policy framework are crucial for the successful integration
of social and ecological criteria in the procurement processo
The aim of trus paper is to transfer experiences from three years of implementation experience in
China into policy recommendations for the improvement of the legal and regulatory framework
for SPP in China. Experiences were gained in the project Sustainable Public Procurement in
Urban Administrations in China (SuPP-Urb)-an action coordinated by the Wuppertal Institute
under EuropeAid's SWITCH-Asia Programme. The project aimed to analyse and improve
sustainable public procurement standards in the Public Procurement Centres (pPC) in Tianjin,
Qinhuangdao and Lanzhou, and to mainstream their application in China.!
By elaborating policy recommendations based on practical experiences, the paper intends to
inform the currently ongoing national evaluation process of public procurement in China2
, in
! The SuPP-Urb project selected the government procurement sector as a central theme. This comprises a part of
what is called public procurement in Europe, namely regular purchases by government bodies and institutions. It
does not cover single projects e.g. in infrastructure development or purchases by state-owned enterprises (SOEs)
(EUCCC, 2011, p. 7). The focus of the action was on sustamable public procurement of product groups and
services, which have a particularly high potential for environmental improvements, in particular for energy and water
savings. Relevant product groups were office consumables (paper, detergents); electronics (computers, printers);
white goods (fridges, dish washers); air conditioning, cooling facilities, heaters and office furniture.
2 Prof. Zhang Mingshun from the SuPP-Urb project has been invited to participate in China's National Evaluation
Project on GPP as a member of the expert comrn1ttee (MEC). The evaluation project 1S funded by the Government
Offices Administration of the State Council. The purpose of the project is to evaluate the implementation of the
Advancing Sustainable PuMe Procurement in Urban China 1

which Prof. Zhang Mingshun of the SuppUrb project participates as an advisor. The national
SPP evaluation programme allnS at evaluating the current policies, their implementation and at
formulating the next five year national SPP Plano
At the moment of writing, the majority of laws and directives on SPP in China centre on the
environmental dimension of sustainability and, hence, on the integration of "green" criteria into
the public procurement process-also called green public procurement (GPP). Social criteria do
not feature prominently in procurement legislation or policies yet, but lessons leamed from the
integration of environmental criteria into public procurement can also inform the advancement
of social procurement in China.
The next chapter introduces the background of implementing SPP in the project cities. It focuses
on the municipal leveI and relates it to the national procurement system. Chapter 3 then
summarises opportunities and challenges of the prevailing SPP system from the perspective of
the project, before chapter 4 identifies policy recommendations. Chapter 5 concludes the paper.
national product lists (energy efficiency products and environmentally friendly products), to identify barriers of GPP
at the policy level, technical leveI and operational level, to identify supporting measures of GPP, to gather
experiences form GPP practitioners on its improvement and to support the Chinese government in formulating a
national GPP plano The SuPP-Urb project has established a close contact with the national evaluation project. It
participates in the national project by contributing to the development of an evaluation methodology, by delivering
its project results and experiences, by providing SuPP-Urb cases to the national evaluation programme and by
contributing to the final report of the national evaluation project.
Advancing Sustainable Pub/ie Procurement in Urban China 2

2. SPP in Urban China
This chapter provides an introduction to the Chinese public procurement system and its
regulatory and legal framework. To start with, the main actors and directives in relation to public
procurement on the national leveI are described. Based on this national framework, the local-in
particular urban-implementation and respective actors of SPP are introduced. The chapter
finishes with a portrayal of the SuPP-Urb project as a practical, local approach towards the
integration of environmental criteria into public procurement. The focus hereby lies on policy-
related praject experiences, which function as the background for policy recommendations in this
paper.
2.1. National Framework
"In the rnid-1990s, ecological rnodemization concepts such as GGp'3 began to spread to developing
countries, particularly in East and Southeast Asia, as these regions began to industrialize and
modernize rapidly." (Geng & Doberstein, 2008)
The national framework for SPP consists of two systems: one is the bureaucratic organisation of
procurement planning and implementation; the second comprises the existing central regulation
in the field of public procurement in China. Along with the Chinese central government paying
increased attention to environmental protection and sustainable development, a series of laws
and regulations for the promotion of SPP were formulated.
Actors and their interaction
The central government provides the framework for public procurement in China. However, the
actual budget al1ocation for carrying out public procurement, specification and customisation of
regulations as wel1 as training of procurement officers is the domain of sub-central government
bodies.
At the national leveI, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) the Ministry
of Commerce (MOFCOM)5 and the Ministry of Finance (MOF) are providing leadership and
governance for public procurement. Thus, they are also responsible for formulating legal
directives, laws and guidelines for the strategic development of SPP in China. In addition, several
other ministries issue qualifications and certifications that can influence procurement decisions
(EUCCC, 2011, p. 11).
The local procurement bureaucracy fulftls two functions: ane involves local policy-making,
strategizing and monitoring; the second function consists of centralised management of actual
procurement processes. Such centralised public procurement comprises ali purchases for public
service units like municipal administrations, public institutes, universities and hospitaIs and state-
owned enterprises (philipps, Marsille, Schroder & Haberland, 2011).
3 Green Government Procurement
4 Formerly: State Development Planning Commission (SDPC).
5 Formerly: the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC).

Local standards can enhance centrallaw but must stay within the boundary of central regulation.
Due to this top-down structure, the Chinese public procurement system can be characterised as a
hierarchical and centralised multi-level system. The analysis of policy instruments and
recommendations for their improvement has to take these structural characteristics into account.
Figure 2.1 visualises the main actors involved in sustainable government procurement at the
urban leveI.
Fig.1 Actors in the Chinese public procurement system
Laws and directives
As an underlying characteristic of policy making in China (Lieberthal & Lampton, 1992) central
policies tend to be rather vague and demand for local specification. This often results in diverging
standards or prices across China. In the case of sustainable public procurement, such a
divergence could mean a loss in controllability and policy impacto The Chinese national SPP
system addresses these challenges by combining centrallaws with specific prioritised product lists.
China's Bidding Law (BL) from 1999 (pRC, 1999), the Govemment Procurement Law (GPL)
promulgated in 2003 (pRC, 2002a) and the Promotion Law on Cieaner Production (2002) are the legal
basis of the Chinese public procurement system and for the implementation of SPP. The GPL is
the central piece of legislation when it comes to the field of government procurement in the
focus of the SuPP-Urb project. The BL, on the other hand, regulates procurement by state-
Advandng Sustainable Public Procurement in Urban China 4

owned enterprises and for stand-alone infrastructure projects. In article 9 of the GPL secondary
objectives of government procurement-beyond value for money and cost-efficiency-are
specified:
Govemment procurement shall be conducted in such a manner as to facilitate achievement of the
goals designed by State policies for economic and social development, including but not limited to
environmental protection, assistance to underdeveloped or ethnic minority areas, and promotion of
the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises." (PRC, 2002b, para. 9)
The GPL itself, however, does not offer any binding guidance on how to prioritise conflicting
secondary objectives and how to relate them to the primary objectives. Nevertheless, instead of
leaving the specification decision to sub-centrallevels, concrete mechanisms were introduced on
how to evaluate market information: two lists with environmental friendly and energy efficient
products serve as the main components of the SPP policy strategy (see box). They specify exact1y,
which products should be preferentialiy purchased. In 2005, the Ministry of Finance and the
National Development and Reform Commission formaliy released the PuNie ProeurementLst if
Energy-Saving Produets (NDRC & MOF, 2011). In 2006, the Ministry of Finance and the State
Environmental Protection Administration (now the Ministry of Environmental Protection)
released the Publie Proeurement Lst if Environmental Labelling Products (MEP & MOF, 2011).
Products on these lists are selected according to criteria described by the Environmental Labelling
Certifieation and the China Energy Label. The central government adjusts both lists bi-annualiy in
order to update the products included on the lists and to provide technical support for SPP
implementation.
The environmental friendly and energy efficient product lists
At present the 8th version of the Public procuremênt List of Environmental Label/ing Products and the 10th
version of the Public Procurement List of Energy Saving Products are valid ih China. Each list provides detailed
information on environmental friend.ly and energy effiCient products. such as the name of the producer, registered
trademarks, the product name and model, the number and expiralion as well as validity date of the certificatioh.
The listsinclude the following prOducts:
Public procurement List of Environmental Labêlling PrOçJucts: 21 categories of products, such as light
vehicle, photocopier, computer. water-based paiM, furniture, etc.
Public Procurement List of Gnergy Saving Products: 27 categories of energy saving products, such as air
conditioner, refrige rato r, lighting product, television set, electric water heater, computer, printer, monitor, etc.
and 7 categories ofwater savihg products, suchas toilet, faucet, shower etc.
Governmental agencies at ali leveIs, institutions and organisations, which use public funds for
procurement should give priority to purchase products on the two public procurement lists. The
departments, which disobey the regulation, may be punished according to the relevant laws and
regulations. Sanctions may include the retention of procurement funds by the FinanciaI
Department or the forced reorganisation of the tendering process of the relevant PPCs.
The list-based system was further developed in October 2007 when the Standing Committee of
the 10th National People's Congress adopted the revised Energy Saving Law, to improve the
system of the energy saving products list and environment labelling products. The law promotes
labelling and certification and an increasing share of energy-saving products and environmental
labelling products in public procurement. It demands the establishment of public procurement

assessment and supervision systems and the implementation of further measures. In doing so, the
central government underlined the chalienges related to centraliy managing SPP.
2.2. SPP in urban administrations
National policies and laws-such as the sustainable public procurement lists-provide general
guidelines for the SPP processo However, implementation heavily depends on local specification
and adaptation in the way of formal regulations and informal procedures. The results differ
regionaliy due to structural and institutional differences in the provinces of China. This was also
supported by experience gained during implementation of SuPP-Urb in three different provinces.
In order to improve independence of procurement agents and streamline procurement
procedures nationwide, in 1999 the central government requested ali sub-central leveIs to
establish independent procurement bureaucracies:
"No procuring agency may be subordinate to any govemment department or have other relationship
ofinterest with it." (PRC, 2002b, para. 60)
As a result, procurement agents formerly part of the respective subordinate of the Ministty of
Finance gained more freedom to manage their budget and institutionalise procurement
procedures. At least in bigger cities, the procurement bureaucracy is further divided into two
bodies with hierarchical relations: the procurement bureau (PPB) is responsible for developing
local regulations and representing bureaucratic interests towards other institutions on city-Ievel
and superior bureaucratic units on province or central leveI. The public procurement centre
(pPC) takes care of managing the actual procurement process for ali administrative units,
hospitals and universities belonging to the respective administration. This centralisation aliows
for the specialisation and development of expertise and al10wsfor economies of scale. The PPC
is subordinated to the bureau, but-depending on the respective relations-can have remarkable
freedom when it comes to developing procedures for internal management, as weli as
communication with users and suppliers. In absence of a public procurement bureau the PPC is
also involved in regulation and direcdy subordinated to the city govemment. Altogether, the
Structure of urban-Ievel procurement systems lays a sound basis for initiativesoin the field of SPP.
In the end, the success of respective policies depends on the performance of local PPCs.
However, the support of additional actorsremains vital. First, the city government with the
mayor can encourage or discourage SPP in various ways; second, the local fmance bureau can
limit or enhance SPP opportunities when aliocating respective budgets.
The PPCs function as procuring intermediaries and therefore do not direcdy receive budgets for
sustainable public procurement from the local fmancial departments. Firsdy, the budgets are
aliocated to the public procurers. The PPCs formulate guiding principIes and organise and
implement the public procurement processo Therefore PPCs enjoy rights and undertake
obligations in supervising public procurers to spend their sustainable procurement budget.

2.3. The SuPP-Urb project experience
As the description of main actors in the Chinese public procurement system and their interaction
has shown, PPCs are the pivotal point for successful implementation of SPP strategies. Within
the national procurement system they are both subject to top-down enforcement of procurement
lists and responsible for specifying the rather vague nationallaws. Barriers and opportunities of
SPP policy are hence best observed on this level of action. However, there are rarely any studies
providing a systematic assessment of SPP on city level that explicitly consider the local contexto
This paper can therefore enhance the discourse and provide valuable lessons learned from the
local application of SPP in three PPCs in urban areas in China, namely the municipalities of
Tianjin, Qinhuangdao and Lanzhou.
Building on general existing analyses (Geng & Doberstein, 2008; Liu & Li, 2006), the focus in the
SuPP-Urb project lies on the barriers and drivers of practical implementation of SPP strategies in
the context of the contemporary legal and regulatory public procurement system. The project
aimed to adapt and to use sustainable public procurement standards and to mainstream their
application in China. Of particular interest were challenges that the strengthening of SPP brings
about with regard to information needs, local capacity and embedment in local systems in the
three cities.
Structural and regional differences-related to the PPC's capacity, local political economy, the
central-coastal divide and so forth-are reasons for selective policy implementation. National
SPP directives and regulations therefore have to be analysed in their local contexto The project
PPCs reflects the different regional and structural characteristics under which public procurement
in urban municipalities is being conducted in China: Lanzhou is an industrial city and the capital
of Gansu, a Western province; Qinhuangdao is a prefecture-Ievel city in the developed coastal
area of Hebei; and Tianjin is a highly developed provincial-leveI city, i.e. directly under the State
Council. By basing the research on these different contexts, the project aimed to obtain a more
representative assessment of current SPP policy instruments.
Looking at the project cities, PPC capacities differ as well as local politico-economic contexts and
local government agendas and budgets.
Being located in the immediate vicinity of Beijing, Tianjin strives to develop its own proflle.
Latest with hosting climate negotiations in 2010, greening the city as well as its public
consumption has become a focal strategy. Since it is part of a province-Ievel government, the
Tianjin PPB enjoys the benefits of direct communication with the central procurement
bureaucracy. Tianjin PPC also upholds an intensive exchange with policy makers, and
representatives from government and Tianjin PPC meet on a regular basis. Tianjin PPC is further
characterised by a relatively young team, open to innovative approaches. PPC capacities are
already relatively strong and enhanced by cooperation with Nankai University. Tianjin PPC has
already placed a proposal to cooperate with Nankai University on calculating life cycle costs, and
they will carry out life cycle costing for the next procurement of cars.
Qinhuangdao's government aims at further developing the city's tourism sector and, therefore,
has vital interest in a greener environment. The city government aims at avoiding any major
production activities with negative impacts on the environment and cancelled several industrial
Advancing Sustainable Publie Procurement in Urban China 7

projects due to unsustainability. In order to rruse awareness for sustainable produccion and
consumpcion, several measures have been implemented: 1) a commurucacion programme with
support of mass media, 2) phase-out programmes of unsustainable produccion by the local
government,3) demonstracion projects on sustainable produccion by the local government (those
demonstracion projects are funded by local government aiming at promoting cleaner produccion
at the local target companies). However, a constraining factor for SPP in Qinhuangdao is that the
budget restraints are tighter and capacity is more limited in Qinhuangdao in comparison to the
other target cities.
While Qinhuangdao is located in the vicinity of developed centres like Beijing and Tianjin,
Lanzhou is spatially more isolated with less access to product markets, skilled personnel and
exchange. In addition, the developmental dimension of government procurement and the budget
size on the side of users is lower than in Tianjin and Qinhuangdao. Embedment in local policico-
economic systems differs, too. Understanding of SPP and environmental awareness could be
improved: The purchasing units are responsible for setting up the technical requirements for the
products they want to buy; therefore, their environmental awareness has a major influence. At
the same time procurement personnel is not as well trained and often lacks the expertise to easily
identify which are environmentally friendly products.
Direct impacts measured throughout the project seem to support this divergence among the
target cicies (see table 1).
Tab. 1: The SPP implementation results in the three target cities 2010
1 tonne
Waste
reduced
C02
reduced
80,448 69,318 86% 1,764 30,520 10,758 31,011 88,345
4,696 4,311 92% 89 2,302 932 1,618 5,715
9,869 7,869 80% 183 6,447 2,318 1,790 11,689
Total 95,013 81,498 2,0~~ 39,269 14,008 34,418 105,749
Source: Results of monitoring as part of the Supp-Urb project activities.
Advancing Sustainable Publie Proeurement in Urban China 8

3. Challenges and opportunities for SPP in China
Sustainable public procurement can be a highly relevant trigger for sustainable development: it
can drive sustainable innovation and directly reduce resource consumption and emissions; in
addition, state agencies can serve as role mo deIs for private consumers, and for suppliers
supplying the state can be a status symbol in business-to-business and business-to-consumer
markets. Further effects of sustainable public procurement include an increase in availability of
sustainable products and environmental awareness among parts of the society. Ali this makes
SPP an interesting policy option for optimising the decentralised systems of a market economy.
It is not that easy, however. How can diverse national goals be merged in the design of a single
policy instrument? How can local bureaucracies with liroited capacity customise national
regulation for optimised fulfilment of soft targets at the local level? And, how can the central
government enforce national objectives against diverging local interest? In this chapter,
challenges and opportunities for ali three dimensions are briefly described in preparation of
policy recommendations in the last chapter.
3.1. The national levei
Activities under the SuPP-Urb project aliow for a Chinese perspective on the national sustainable
public procurement framework. Project experience underlines that the national government
confronts the chalienge of combining various policy goals in the face of the national
transformation agenda and heterogeneous local realities. As a consequence, the national policy
framework addresses issues such as efficient budget use, environmental improvements, resource
efficiency, and SME promotion and innovation strategies at the same time. It does so by
providing straightforward guidance in form of public procurement lists. They specify not only the
product's environmental characteristics but also the concrete producer. However, this also has
downsides: for central authorities, it means a high workload evaluating products; companies
offering products not included in the list are a priori excluded from certain tenders-even if their
products may be advantageous in economic, environmental and social terms. Smali and medium-
sized enterprises may be overburdened with fulfilling the administrative requirements for being
included in the lists; economic competitiveness can be restrained with lower incentives for
innovation and efficiency gains as a resulto Foreign products are per se excluded from the listo
These structural chalienges are hard to overcome, which will be further described in the
subsection on central-local relations. On the operational leveI, the government reacted by
increasing the update frequency of the lists. However, it is stillliroited to two rounds per year.
3.2. The urban levei
The work in the three project cities reconfttmed the relevance of the urban leveI for analysing the
Chinese political economy (Hurst, 2006) and related policy implementation. Particularly, when
talking about prefecture-Ievel cities with respective legislative and budgetary freedom, urban
conditions can heavily influence social, environmental and economic realities. Overali
development strategies and bureaucratic settings play into policy implementation.

In the case of SPP, the implementation capabilities of PPCs among other things further depend
on their existing capacities, access to labour markets for skilled personnel, development of local
product markets, public awareness and so forth. These aspects gain importance with increasing
complexity of procurement tasks. SPP clearly is a complex procurement task as it is chalienging
to assess and measure sustainability. As a consequence, having procurement lists in place
represents an important simplification for procurement officers in particular for those PPCs with
limited capacities.
3.3. Central-local dynam ics
Deriving policy recommendations from a project focusing on the urban leveI demands a closer
look at central-local dynamics. Chinese cities-and also the SuPP-Urb project cities-differ with
regard to fundamental features 1ike climate, topography and structural path dependencies.
However, local conditions for policy implementation mainly depend on govemment behaviour.
In the period of reform and opening, vague central regulation leaves freedom to local
govemment for fostering individual development strategies. At the same time, it puts pressure on
them to come up with local regulation and procedures to face major chalienges. Each
govemment defIDes its own way to act within this framework. The result is a polymorphous local
state with a variety of local government attitudes ali over China (Baum & Shevchenko, 1999;
Howeli, 2006). Some local govemments display a developmental attitude. They use discretionary
power as an opportunity for swift policy implementation and enhancement of vague central
regulation. However, in other cases local govemments utilise freedom for discretion mostly for
their personal advantage (Lu, 2000). Proper and comprehensive implementation of complex
policies 1ikeSPP is hardly possible under such conditions.
For the centre it is hard to manage and monitor this diversity, in particular, because it goes along
with geophysical and structural diversity. Reacting with a strict command-and-control system is
not feasible for China for several reasons (Heilmann & Perry, 2011). For SPP, some local budgets
might simply not aliow for buying sustainable products and too stringent regulation might result
in absolute non-compliance. Giving space for customisation and specification of vague central
regulation can yield positive effects on compliance when stringency is localiy appropriate.
However, at the .same time, local decisions on SPP can open the way for centraliy undesired
discretion: while rather objective criteria 1ikeprice and quality still aliow for central monitoring to
a certain extent, sustainability is hard to measure in absence of clear indicators. Product lists are a
very clear indicator and therefore part of the current solution to the principal-agent problem the
central state faces. However, it is the question whether the benefits deriving from this strict
instrument still outweigh its costs in terms of slow reaction to market trends and failure to pursue
multiple goals 1ike SME support, innovation and sustainability. Untillocal capacities in public
procurement centres have widely increased and SPP regulations and standards at both national
and locallevels are weli formulated and operational, the lists seem indispensible.

4. Potential Policy Approaches
This chapter identifies key policy recommendations stemming from the experience gained during
the SuppUrb project. Recommendations also build on the analysis of the existing procurement
system (chapter 2). They orient towards opportunities and challenges for SPP discussed above
(chapter 3) and in further project publication by Nankai University (2011) and Philipps et aI.
(2011).
4.1. National procurement framework
A basic national procurement framework in China is already well established. However, given
China's dynamic development, the framework needs further enhancement and reflllement, in
order to better support sustainable public procurement in the future. Building on experience
from implementation activities, the framework could increasingly gain stringency; at the same
time procurement personnel and (especially SME) suppliers need to be better supported.
In order to ensure a high environmental performance of publicly procured products:
1. In the short term the quality and performance standard of environmental products in
the lists needs to be improved. According to external experts from civil society6, criteria for
entering the lists have not been updated for several years. Against the backdrop of technical
progress, this represents an effective lowering of standards compared to state-of-the-art
solutions. Eliminating those products from the list that have a low environmental
performance could increase the meaningfulness of the lists. At the same time, the product
range included in the purchasing lists needs to be widened and more manufacturers
should be included to improve competition7
•
2. In the mid to long term, in order to widen the scope of environmentally friendly products,
the government may assess ways for moving beyond predefined product lists. A
potential new design could include specifying only obligatory environmental
characteristics or benchmarks, but not concrete manufacturers. This could at the same
time improve the economic performance of environmental products in the longer run due to
increased competition. For such an indicator-based approach to be feasible, product
information requirements would have to be adjusted accordingly to limit the burden for
procurement personneI. Similarly, suppliers would need to be informed and SME suppliers
may need to receive special support, i.e. in the run of specialised training schemes, to be able
to fulftl the requirements. Of course, the existing environmental and energy efficiency label
could be used as such an indicator set, but further improvement of performance leveIs and
validation of the label could make a potential future SPP system even more effective.
6 An interview with a member of an international environmental NGO was conducted in March 2011. The
interviewee prefers to remain anonymous.
7 This seems to be inconsistent with the demand for stticter seIection. Therefore, such an approach can only work if
combined with other means like capacity building among suppliers.

Continuous updates of environmental criteria could help to ensure high quality and
incentivise environmental performance.
3. By making life cycle costing mandatory for ali PPCs in China the cost efficiency barrier of
green versus less environmentaliy friendly products could be revealed and put into
perspective.
4. Environmental criteria could be weighted stronger in the selection criteria of PPCs to further
expand the procurement of environmentaliy friendly products. Rules for purchasing
departments could be further standardised to increase demand of sustainable products.
The incorporation of social criteria into SPP requirements could further advance SPP in China.
To support the consideration of social criteria, the national government of China could conduct a
feasibility study and demonstration projects on the incorporation of social criteria into public
procurement. Another step could be the formulation of a Social Procurement Directive by the
national govemment.
As supporting policies to the above recommendations a national capacity building programme
appears highly recommendable. The capacity building programme could include the foliowing
elements:
A national capacity building (and awareness raising) programme for PPCs and EPBs on
life cycle costing, technical aspects of SPP tendering, information management, product
assessment and social criteria.
A nationally framed capacity building programme for SMEs on environmental
performance, environmental management systems and life cycle analysis. This
component would be in line with Article 9, GPL, which explicitly states that public
procurement should support SME development. National government could set the
framework and mandate local governments to implement the SME training. Funding
would probably have to be provided by both national and local governments.
An information and exchange platform on the evaluation and experience with procured
products that would give PPCs the space for mutuallearning and exchange of experience.
Information on environmentaliy friendly products should be provided on the platform,
including their technical specifications. The platform could also include a comparison (e.g.
by establishing national and/or provincial SPP benchmarking systems) of PPC
performance to facilitate peer-to-peer comparisons and create incentives for PPCs to
improve their performance. However, evaluation should take developmental differences
into account.
4.2. Urban levei
Market conditions, environmental awareness and capaClt1es of PPC personnel vary greatly
between different cities and regions. Therefore, the foliowing recommendations may be more
relevant in some cities than in others.
Advancing Sustainable Publie Proeurement in Urban China 12

1. At the municipal level ali PPCs should use life cycle costing to assess the econotnlc
performance of products and thereby reduce the cost-advantage of less environmentaliy
friendly products.
In order for PPCs to be able to do so, capacity building will be necessary in most PPCs, albeit to
different extents.
2. In addition to the national SPP institutional capacity building programme involving municipal
PPCs, municipal financial bureaus could also allocate an extra budget to PPCs for the
implementation of PPC internaI capacity building measures.
3. In regions, where environmental awareness remains low, information and awareness raising
campaigns can help improve the acceptance of SPP policies and increase demand of
sustainable products by government purchasers. Encouraging and supporting suppliers to
undertake life cycle assessments of their products could lead to additional improvements in
the field of sustainable consumption and production and SPP policy implementation.
4. Rewarding procurement officers within user institutions for purchasing equipment with low
operational costs could be a good incentive for SPP implementation. Nowadays, this is often
not the case: if the facility manager of a school agrees with the PPC to purchase energy-
efficient equipment, low operational costs will most likely not have any positive influence on
his performance evaluation while high purchasing costs might have a negative effect. Here,
human resource management and budget planning can set effective incentives for
cooperation between users and the respective ppc.
4.3. Central-local architecture
The success of the above policy recommendations depends on their compatibility with the
central-local governance system presented 'in chapter three. Hence, considering this context of
central-local hierarchy might make any approach more successful Thereby, it could set stringent
standards and promote SPP but remain flexible enough to take local realities into account.
1. The current purchasing lists are one approach to this balancing act. A strong capacity
building campaign appears vital with regard to overcoming limitations brought about by this
approach, such as competition issues, discrimination against SMEs and more backward
suppliers in less developed areas. On1y once local capacity has been built will it be possible to
successfuliy enforce a more flexible approach that subsequently gives higher responsibility to
local PPC personnel
2. The above-mentioned information and exchange platform could further support and
accelerate learning at the locallevel.
3. In addition, a national monitoring and evaluation system could provide both incentives to
perform SPP and a control mechanism against corruption. Monitoring would be based on
spot checks to keep the administrative burden as low as possible. This, too, however requires
highly trained monitoring personnel.
Advancing Sustainable Publie Procurement in Urban China 13

5. Conclusions
The SuPP-Urb Project showed that local state action on sustainable public procurement (SPP)
can make a difference by improving sustainable consumption and production in the markets
(Philipps et al., 2011). For the successful integration of social and ecological criteria in the
procurement process and widespread implementation thereof, an adequate policy framework is
of utmost importance. Based on the practical experiences gained in the SuPP-Urb project,
potential policy approaches for the enhancement of the national and local regulatory framework
of SPP in urban China were developed.
Project experience and analysis revealed that China already possesses a well-established legal and
regulatory framework for SPP. In comparison to other countries, SPP is already quite advanced
in China. An important aspect in this regard is the top-down structure of the regulatory system.
The Chinese public procurement system can be described as a hierarchical and centralised multi-
level system, which enables an efficient and direct transfer of directives to local and regional
levels of governance. A centralised system helps to bundle expertise and capacity in public
procurement centres and allows for economies of scale in the way of cost-efficient bulk
purchasing that lowers transaction costs and allows for lower prices. This is particularly relevant
for SPP, because related product information systems and selection processes are rather complex
and demanding.
The status quo provides a protnlsmg basis for the further enhancement of the public
procurement system and in particular for the fostering of SPP. However, as China develops
rapidly, the well-established national procurement system needs further enhancement in order to
fully realise its potential in regard to SPP.
In particular, it is necessary to formulate an integrated policy package, which takes the multiple
levels of SPP governance into account and which offers standards for the translation of national
directives into practical use-oriented guidelines. An important measure in this context is the
provision of capacity building measures. In addition to the suggested national SPP capacity
building programme, in which municipal PPCs should be intensely involved, PPC internal
capacity building measures should also be implemented and funded by local fmaneial bureaus.
At present, green purchasing product lists are the major policy instrument for fostering SPP.
These lists provided an adequate way of introducing green criteria into the public procurement
system and provide important leverage for SPP. The current limitations of the lists (mainly a
limited scope and relatively low standards) might however impair the future success of SPP.
Therefore the quality and performance standard of the lists should be improved and gradually
substituted by a comprehensive catalogue of green criteria-instead of green products.
Lastly, at the time of writing, most of the effective laws and regulations on SPP in China solely
focus on the incorporation of environmental criteria in the public procurement processo In order
to exploit the full potential of SPP social criteria should also be considered. As a first step
towards the incorporation of social criteria in SPP a forerunner approach could be initialised,
whereby advanced cities launch pilot projects and channel their experiences into a central

platform for knowledge exchange. Eventually and building on the experiences gained in pilot
projects, national goveroment might formulate a Social Procurement Directive.
Building on the existing capacities and experiences gained in the pilot projects, government has
the opportunity to formulate a holistic policy strategy to make China's domestic markets more
sustainable by generating a pull for sustainably produced products and, ultimately, more
sustainable consumption.

6. Literature and suggested further reading
Baum, R., & Shevchenko, A. (1999). The "State of the State." In M. Goldman & R. MacFarquhar
(Eds.), Theparadox ofChina's post-Mao reforms(pp. 333-362). Harvard University Press.
EUCCC. (2011). Publie Proeurement Stu4J: European Business Experienees Competingfor Publie Contraets
in China. European Chamber of Commerce in China.
Geng, Y, & Doberstein, B. (2008). Greening government procurement in developing countries:
Building capacity in China. Journal of enmronmentalmanagement, 88(4), 932-938.
Heilmann, S., & Perry, E.]. (Eds.). (2011). Mao's Inmsible Hand: The Political Foundations ofAdaptive
Governaneein China. Harvard University Press.
Howell,]. (2006). Reflections on the Chinese state. Development and Change,37(2), 273-297.
Hurst, W. (2006). The City as the Focus: The Analysis of Contemporary Chinese Urban Politics.
China Information, 20(3), 457-479.
Lieberthal, K., & Lampton, D. M. (1992). Bureaucrary,polities, and decisionmaking in post-Mao China.
Berkeley: University of California Press.
Liu, c., & Li, T. (2006). Chinese Government procurement policy for energy-efficient products.
In P. Bertoldi, B. I<iss, & B. Atanasiu (Eds.), Energy Eificienry in Domestie Applianees and
Lighting (VoI. 1, pp. 147-152). Presented at the 4th International Conference EEDAL'06.
Retrieved from http://energyefficiency.jrc.cec.eu.int
Lu, X. (2000). Booty Socialism, Bureau-Preneurs, and the State in Transition: Organizational
Corruption in China. ComparativePolities,32(3),273-294.
Lundvall, B.-A. (Ed.). (2010). National Systems of Innovation: Toward a Theory of Innovation and
InteraetiveLearning. Anthem Press.
MEP, & MOF (Eds.). (2011). ~:f:~;fiF~f= JfbJ5(m*]J!7;Jt'F! $ (~-t ft,A) . Ministry of
Environmental Protection, Ministry of Finance.
Nankai University (Ed.). (2011) Challengesand Opportunitiesfor Sustainable Publie Proeurementin China.
SuPP-Urb-China Paper No. 13_EN, Wuppertal Institute: WuppertaI.
NDRC, & MOF. (2011). l1Í'1~f=JfbiEJz:m*]J!7;Jt'F!$ (~+ft,A) . National Development and
Reform Commission, Ministry of Finance.
Philipps, S., Marsille, c., Schrüder, P., & Haberland, T. (2011). Sustainable Publie Proeurement in
Urban China. How the Government as Consumer Can Drive Sustainable Consumption and
Produetion. SuPP-Urb Project Publications. Wuppertal.
PRC. (1999). 9=J ~ A ~ ~ ffi 00 tB tiF t.i tiF {!. Retrieved August 20, 2011, from
http://www.ccgp.gov.cn/zycg/zcfg/201009/t20100929_1167545.shtml
PRC. (2002a). 9=J~ A ~ ~ ffi 00 J5( m* ]J!7;J{!. Retrieved August 20, 2011, a from
http://www.ccgp.gov.cn/zycg/zcfg/201009 /t20100929_1167558.shtml
PRC. (2002b, June 29). The Government Procurement Law of the People's Republic of China
(Order of the President No.68). Retrieved January 26, 2011, b from
http://www.gov.cn/english/laws/2005-10/08/content_75023.htm.

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-----'--------------~-~-~~"'~--=-
project at a Glanc(': Sustainable public Procurement in Urban Administrations in China .4
1 Point of Departure: Current Situation of Sustainable public Procurement in China : 6
2 How did SuPP-Ulb drive change towards SPP? : .' 11
3 What impacts did SuPP-Urb achieve? , : 16
What SuPP-Urb (an contribute to the future of SPP 21
project Consortium : 24
Imprint : 26
. ,

project at a Glaoce: Sustainable Public Procurement in Urban Administratiorns in
The SupP-urb (Sustainable Public Procurement in
Urban Administrations in China) project .success-
fully introduced sustainable public procurement
praçtices i~ the three Chinese target cities Lanzhou,
Qinhuangdao and Tianjin. The lessons learned show
that it is possible in a short timeframe to achieve
tangible results and improvements in environmen-
tal performance through"'Changing procurement
practices. Mainstreaming these successful practices
will enable more effective use of public purchasing
power for the realisation of sustainable consumpti-
on and production patterns in China.
The SuPP-Urb projecl wos funded by lhe Europeon
Vnlou une/er the SWITCll-Asío PrOQlOmme unil led by
lhe Wuppé'rlollnslitute for C/I/nole, [lIwonf71enl Ollc/
EnerQY Tlle locol por/ncrs were publle plOcu(emcnl
cenlres {rom qinhuonQc!oo, I!olljln olld !Of)Z!WU which
tested Of)d IITJplemenled suslCllnob!e
The [nvironrne?tol Monogernenl Colle(jf!
ot Chino, NonkCli Umvef51tv LonzllOu [nvllonrnentol
Protcetioo 8u;eol! ond the UNEPjWuppertollnstltute
CollolJorotlllQ Centre on SU5tmnoble ConsUlllplion ond
Produc/íon $upported lhe pilo! cilics 111 I/lcir OCtíVíUC5
witIJ Iheír sClenlifíc experll5c.
lotol pro}cct budgcl wos WPO 908,000.
lhc projeel s/arlcd rn Oeccmber 2008 onc/ ended
in December 2011.
From 2009 to 2011, the' pilot cities received
aetive support from the SuPP-Urbprojeet und the
EUSWITCH-AsiaProgfamme. By changing their '
purehasing procedures, they successfully strengthe-
ned local markets for sustainable products and
services; they promoted local innovation and €ffec-
tively reduced their cities' CO2
emissions by more
than 105,000 tonnes of CO2
; and, they also decre-
ased their resource consumption. In this way, the
SuPP-Urbproject contributed to the objective of the
EUSWITCH-Asiaprogramme to support·Asian coun-
tdes adopting more' sustainable growth patterns. In
this case, it supported China achieving the environ-
mental targets of China's 11th;Five-Year Plan (2006-
2010) and foster~d sustainable consumption at the -
city leveI.
4
.Projcct documcnls, !JClckgiOundrcports, met!Jodo-
10Q/esalld pilotos me ovodoble for downlood 00
lhe prdjccl wcbsllc.
hltp:/jpublic-procuremcnt.emcc.cn
""""------------------------~-~._-~-------~.

"rf1e most importont.effect of SuPP'Ur!> wo.snof tlle ochieved concrete energy sovings ond emission rec/uctions, bul
lhe engogcmen( betwcen locol governments with civil society. As o result of SUPP-Urb Chinesc local governments are
now muc!J more wil/ing to procure moresustoinable proc/ucts and support sustoinoble lifestyles."
. Professor Z/Jong MingslluIJ, Environmental Monogement Col/ege of China

Chn.'
Lanzhou~
F/g 7.' !oco!iO!l of pl/Ol (files.

1 poiol 01 Oeparture: (urrent Situation of Sustqinable Public Procurement in China
Through public procurement, governments (an influi
ence markets without regulating them airectly. For
China, this implies immense potential for two rea-
sons: first" in China market liberalisation continues
and direct state intervention decreases respectivey;
second, the country still has ~n enormpus state-
owned indostry sector and governmentapparatus.
As a consequence, public procutement is a criti-
cai element of China's public policy and market
development - inclvding lhe field of sustainable
development.
Sustainable government consumption can raise
public awareness for environmental protection and
social issues. /t can promote green consumption .and
push industries towards cleaner production, techno-
.. logical innovation and improved working conditions.
The integration of social and environmental criteria
in the public procurement process is generallY refer-
red to as sustainable public procurement (SPP).The
SuPP-Urbproject selected the government procu-
rement sector qS a central theme. This comprises a
part of what ís called public procurement in Europe,
namely ali purchases that are r~lated to the operati-
on of public servíce units.
6
Oefining Sustainable Public ProcUíement (SPP)
rhe SuPP-urb project focused on governmell{ flroculernenl whlch complises 011
purcliose~ reloled lo lhe operution af (jovernrncnt dcporlrncnls, publíc IIlslitullOns,
-
IJOspitols, untversities anel olher publiC Sf:rVlce providers. Morn producl groujJs
inc/uded lO governmenl pracurernent ore offlee furmture, elcr Ifle
rcfflgeralo(S, oir wndítioocrs), ofrire equiprnenls wmpulcrs; phOIoWfllers,
printers) ond affiee consumobles 5uch os paper products ond stotio17ory.
China's SPP po!icy Framework
SPPqffers immense potentials for reSOurceefficiency, emissions rt!ductions,
innovation anti development of smal! and mediurn-sízed enterprises (SMEs).
Ali these are 90a15defined in Article 9 of the Government Procurement Law of
the Peoples Republic of China.Their implementation is based on two crucial
decísions: in 2004, China's NationatOevelopment and Reform Commission
(NORC)and Mínístry of Finance brought energy-effícient procurement on the
way. /n 2006, China's Ministry of Finance andState Environmental Protection
Administration (now 'the Ministry of Environmental Protection) issue-da directive
promoting green publie procurement. in both cases, central product lists were
issued to guíde and support local procurement decisions. These two lists are the
basis for SPPin China. PPCsinviting for tenders must purchase products from the
binding categories of the energy-saving Bst and primarily, but not compulsoríly,
purchase products from the remaining categories of the energy-saving list and
those products in the environmentallist. This reflects the fact that saving energy
is high priority for achieving low-carbon developrnent in China.

The publlc Procu/clllcnt LlS/ of Encrgy Soving products has been adjusted eleven
times since 2004 when it was first released. It includes now 30,000 typesof
products of 28 product categories manufaetured by.600 enterprises, eompared
to only 1500 types of products in eight product eategories manufaetured by
about 90 enterprises in 2004.
Similarly, the Publtc Plocuremcnt Llsl of Environmcntol LODclJing Products ís also a
dynamie list that is being frequently updated. It has been r,enewed eight times
sinee it was introdueed. It now includes 24 product categories manufactured
by about 800 enterprises, eompared to 14 produet eategories by 81 enterprises
when first implemented in 2006.
ihe Govcmment Prowrement Usts
lo 5upporl !oco! odmmislro/lons lhe C}ovcrnment !1OSissued two product 1i,I, for puv/Jc I'ro-
cU/cmenl. fllc col/slderotíon ofsustoínobtlíly Ullcrio in governrnent procu/omeM i, moin/y
I!osed OI) thes!.' two Irsts,
Pub/le PlOiUr!.'mellt Lí5t o( [nVf(onmenlo!l.o!x:! P/OduCts
ond Mllllstry of [nvironmenlo! f'rol!.'ction) and
{'ub/lc Proculernenl UII of [l)cl9Y SovlIlg I'lOelUCls(issueel by MIrJ/slly af Finonce ()nel
by Mlnis/ly of Fino17ce
,vDRe).
.one fundamental challenge of central procurement regulation is the definition
of mulhple and 50ft goals in Article 9 of the Government Procurement Law
which emphasises ~'environmental protection, assistance to underdeveloped or
ethnic minority areas, and promotion of the growth of small and medium-sized'
enterprises." Central planning for the parallel achievement of these multi pie
goal5 - and keeping them in line with lhe primary goal of economic efficieney
'- represents a challenge. China's ongoing national poliey dialogue ún spp seeks
to improve legislation in this regard.
.J
(

lhe Actors
The central government provides the framework for public procurement. However, the actual budget allocation for carrying out public
procurement, specifjcation and customisation of regulations as well as training of procurement officers is the domain of sub-central
governf!1ent bodies. T-herefore,local action is crucial to success.
The local procurement bureaucracy fulfil5 two functions: one involves local pOlicy-making, strategising and monitoring; the se~ond
function con5i5ts"of ceritralised management of actual procurement processes. Suchcentralised government procurement comprises ali
purchases for public service units like mUf!.icipaladministrations, universities and hospitais.
ln bigger cities like Tianjin, the two functions of procurement bureaucracy are divided between a public procurement bureau (PPB) and
a publicoprocurement centre (PPé). In medium-sized cities like Qinhuangdao, there only exists a PPCand the tasks otherwise carried out
by the PPBare divided between the city government and the ppc. A pro-active PPCcan have a significant leverage when it comes to
promoting sustainable consumption and'próduction patterns. It holds an important position as intermediary engaging with a variety of• ~, !I'
public consumers and their suppliers (see fig 2).
lmpact Sustainable Production Sustainable Consumptioll
Outputs
Pajeet Aetivities
Figure 2: rile P/voto! role of local Pf'Cs In China..
_ 8
··················Cl~

"'Experiences of'SuPP-Urb show thol 01/stokeholders in public procurement ore very wi/ling to odopt SPPproctices.
Thekey lJorrier is how we con bring 011stokelJolders togelher. Tile SuPP-Urb project is'o gQod exomplc demonstroling
how 011stokeholders hove cooperoted successfu//y and witil friendly attitudcs towords eoch other."
Ms. Clien YonpinQ, Oireclor Tionjin Public Procurement Centre
The Need for Action
Local PPCs(an make () big difference. This is under-
lined further by the fact that about 90% of govern°
ment pJOcurement in China is ()rri~d out by local
governments. Two questions lhat were addressed
by the project were:
Do local PPCshave the necessary capacity to'
implement SPP?
Do local conditions allow for tapping the poten-
tials of SPPunder the current situation?
First of ali, overall bureaucratic capacity of urban ad·
ministrations has increased in the last decades, but
it varies greatly across regions and cities. Second,
embedment of bureaucratic units in local systems
can respectively support or hinder implementation
regardless of capacity. Under these circumstances,
the application of the two procurement lists has
already yielded positive results: practicability of Spp
has been acknowledged and some cities have becn
implementing it since 2007. SPP.was officially star'
ted countrywide in 2008 and the respective national
policy dialogue is ongoing.
lhe scale of public proclHement in China
In 2009, gO'lernment procurement odded up lo 599 bil/ion
Yuon (obout 65 iJilllOn Euro) Of2% of Chincse (,DP (WTO,
2010, p. 40). Nowever, lhe complete publle pfocuremenl
morket is eslitna[('{j to be iJelweell 4.08 oncl6.8 IrilllOn
Yuo/) 443 ond 738 N//ion turo) (WCCC, 2071, P 16).
wac. (21) /1). Puh/II: rumpeUlI
(,us/nes"s EX{Jenc{)(C', ComjlC'linq IDf /fJ (hino
I.UiOpCOJ) of Commeln' in Chino.WIO (20/0)
WlO 71ch/r Pollcy Ilcucw (hino world !rode U(!jomsolron
9

Despite these initial steps, hUCJespp potentials still remain üntapped under the current SPPsystem for several reasons:
Although quantities, kinds of products, enterprises and trademarks of sustainable products in the two lists are constantly expan-
ding, the product categofies and contents of the lists are stilllimited.
Lists are,designed to be applicable across the country, including, less-developed paris - with the result that underlying sustaina-
bility standards are often toa low when applied in coastal urban areas. Not always do local governments in such areas have the
capacity or the awareness to implement more effective SPPregulation and procedures.
Capacity in the field of SPPorriocallevel is centralised - in PPCs.Howevér, it is scattered wh€n looking at regions. Here, synergies
for pooling knowledge and experiences are not yet tapped systematically.
Chinals product markets are fragmented. Local accessto sustainable products is often limited.
often suppliers are not aware of concrete SPPrequirements. They might be discouraged to participate in tenders or, if they do, no!
win the bids.
Awareness about environmental, social and economic benefits of SPPvaries and is generally toa low,
t ~ 0.0 •• " 0.0 .* 0'0 •• ~ ••. ~ •.••••••••.•••• " ••••.••••• * •••.• , •••••••• ~ ••••• ~ •.••.•••••.• 0.0 •• ~ ••••••.•••• ~
, .
_:,",__ (';. Technologies 11 éd-
jY Methods <j :
- Purchasers
- Procurement staff of agency
Suppliers
,..",
1- Internai M&S
M&S government
purchasing work
M&S of green
product market
Environmental
Awareness
Management 11
Supervision
--~-.'~._~.",~--'..-
"o ••••.••••••••••••••••. ~ ••••••••••••.••••••••• 0.0 •••••••••••• O'O ••••. ~ ••• 0,0 •••••••••••••••••••••••••• ' •••••••••••.••• ~ ~ ••
t.
(Suppy & Demand)
. ·"1' .
V
10
Figure 3: An averview af ChirlG's spp syslcm

Proje(t activitie:; at a gial1ice
/nqu{ry mio principies anel procec!ures of SPP In Chino
onc! Europc'
Deve/o(Jmcnt ond lestíng of gUIc!e/mes Clnd too/s (or
spp on loco/levei
2 How did SuPP-Urb drive change towards SPP?
Public procurement practices in China are very
different from th~se in Europe. Only in some instan-
ces European experiences can be transferred and
customised, in some cases capacity needed to be
developed in China. The SuPP-UrbProject objectives,
activities and deliverables reflected tl1.is.Interes-
tingly, Chinese centralised government purchasing
offers opportunities for effective SPPnot given in
Europe where most public organisations take care of
their own procurement needs.
project Objectives:
From Practicallmprovements to a long-
Term Strategy
In the face of many untapped potentials, SuPP-Urb
was designed to assessofirstsuccessesin the field
of SPP;to define principies and procedures of SPP,
concretely support their systemati.c improvement;
and to combine them and prepare lessons learned
for mainstreaming good SPPpractice in China.
The project focused on the work of public procure-
ment centres (PPCs)(see fig 2) and 5elec~edthree
pilot cities for in-depth cooperation.
! .
SII(Jporunr] lhe imp/ernenlolioll o( SPI' In liJe !!Jlce
{lllo! crUes LonllJou, Qinhuongc/oo Orlei Tio{)jln thlOlICjh
5/n/:choldc{ worksho(Js, ViSl!, IJy EU cxpárts ond mel/-
tine mOIJlI'c){fng
Dí55é'mínofíon of {lro)ecl IOSI/!ls in C/I/no ooel A SIO
feedlllr] {('su!!s rnlO lhe fioriollO! pollcy clioloijue OJ)';I'f'
lhe principal objective of the project was to contri-
bute to China's efforts to mitigate clirnate change
and to reduce environmental degradation. It also
I
supported achieving the environmental targets of
the Chinese government's 11th five-year plan by
concretely assisting the irhplementation of spp at
city levei inthe three cities of Lanzhou, lianjin anel
Qinhuangdao to encourage the wider uptake of
sustainable products.
11

project Activities:
From Knowledge to Impact
The project was carried out in four phases (see figo
4). The !irst phase.built a common understanding
and good relations between European and Chinese
project partners on concrete terms of cooperation.
Good practices of SPPand current experiences from
China and the EUwere shareã. It also included net-
working between stakeholders from the three pilot
cities and associated cities, PPCs,consumer associa-
tions, SMEs,NGOsand the scientific community.
The purpose of ~hesecond phase was to identify
and test tools, principies and guidelines for SPPand
adapt them to the local situation. Drawing on the
experiences made by local PPCs,specific institutio-
nal barriers, opportunities and legal requirements
both at the national and Iqcallevel were screened
and implementation through setting up action plans
was prepared..
The last phase concerned dissemination of results and focused 011 transferring
the experiences, tools and results to other Chinese cities in order to mainstream
SPP.In parallel to this, recommendations for improving the national poticy
framework were developeç and discussed with stakeholders from the Chinese
government.
During the .third phase, implementation of SPPin
the target cities was the main element of project
activities. After having tested sustainable public pro- Figure 4. F{om knowledge to impocl-/iJe four pro)eCl phoses.
curement tools during ~wo ar three standardprocu-
rement processes in each city, tool5 and processes
were then fine-tuned and implemented' as regular
procurement practice.
Oo:í;;,ttdCu",tor,li;.,:.a
íooh ti. tl"chnlqüas:
fllmlliJd!>dtlon wlth
tO{J'IJI<ltory
tr'lnn:~w()rk;
Bulld common
understandln9
a,hout procedurcs
& gonls, set
targets, etc.

project Oeliveries:
lFrom Concrete Tools to Strategic Policy
Rewmmendations
Phase One: Target Setting anã (apadty
Development
Beside less tangible outcomes such as trust buil-
ding, network building and cross-Iinkíng of knpw-
ledge among project partners from Europe and
China, the outputs of the first phase of activities
ineluded a number of backgr04nd studies on SPPin
China and Europe, product labelling practices, the
role of sócial criteria for SPPand general principies
and procedures, lhe studies and reports are useful
background resourees for organisations involved in
public procurement.
Oeliverable!i
5uPPUrb was on Impoct,dl/vcn project, T/Jcrefore, mos!
[escorei) studlCS anil rcport-like elellveF/es sl:/Vcd os prepo-
mliofl lór Sino-Europeoll eXc/lOnge, sloke/Jolder ínvolvelTlcnl
anei COpOll1ybUíloíng, Core dellvmes comis/cd of lraínings,
confercnres onc! vml ks/Jo{Js,Ali bóckglOund sluellcs, repor/5
ond proceedJll95 01 worl:shof15 ore ovat/oble lo lhe general
pu/Ale via lhe f!IOJect webslte: http//publlc-procuremenl.
IPhase Two: lesting of guidelines é11l1d tools
Ih phase two, trainings were carried out on SPP
tools such as Life Cyele Assessment (LCA), Life Cyele
Costing (LCC)and institutio,nal analysis of regulatory
frameworks,
lhe to015 were adjusted to local,conditions, For
example, to improve SPPpractices, in collaboration
with the PPCsof the three, cities not only new tools
were introduced, but also technical and regulatory
requirements developed. At lhe beginning of 2010
the. PPCswere prol/ideei with Technicol Guidelines
af Sustainable Public Procurerncnt In China and
Europe compiling latest regulations and guidelines.
Application of lCA and LCChelped the local PPCsto
mak~ more environmentally responsible purchasing
j
decisions, With sci~ntific support by collaborating
research institutions like the Environmental Ma-
nagement College of China and Nankai University,
PCCstaff members were introduced to LCAand LCC
methodologies. LCCmethodologies proved more
relevant for PCCsthan LCAdue to the eomplex tech-
nical aspects of lCA. Another spp method SlJccess-
fully applied was awarding extra scores to sustaina-
ble products in bid evaluations. lhe application of
the tools was ·monitored. lhrough these activities
testing could be optimised and concrete aetions for
mainstreaming were planned,
13

Ufe-cydc Costillg (l(C)
!ire (yele CosUn9 is a rnelhod for eS/imating lhe tolal cosi of
goods and services. II is o s/(uctured OflProochlhol con be
uscd to genem/e product pIOfiles covering the complete (/ti.
licipaled lifc-spon. B(}5ecfon sueh I.CC pro(i!es, lJigher initlol
procurement expenditurcs con be jus/ified, as there wil/ be
poyback5 over lhe Me/lloe of lhe product Ihl5 15 especial/y
relevoo! (or el7crgy uSlng produets 5uch 05 compulelS, refri-
ge/Otor5 ar maior vehiclcs. Ihls mokes LCC o rnighly tool fOI
spp ~5il flelfJs to sjfstemo/icoliy reword energy ond (esource
effioetl(y
Phase Three:
Implementation and Mainstreamil1Q
In a next step, the three PCCsstarted carrying out sustCiinable public procure-
rnent as inherent part of their activities ~ applying the tools, procedures and
practices that had shown good results in the testing phase. Direct irnpacts were
achieved and in parallel potentials for indirect impacts were analysed and policy
recornrnendation prepared. Again, deliverables were not providedas stand-
I .
alone iterns but jointly discussed arnong ali project partners at a conference in
Lanzhou in March 2011 together with suppliers and users.
Agril 2009:
project kíck-off
meeting
2009 2Q'UJ
Capacity Building
"Through lhe implementation of SuPP-Urb,more and more municipal PPCsore odopting life-cyde cosi ona/ysis in their
bids evaluations. rhis'provides great oppartunities that fuI! lífe-cycle enviranrnental
!
impacts af goods and services could be taken inta account."
,
Professorju Meiting, Nonkm univers!ly

Qçmp~L~01Q~
c.uropean SPPExperiences
Workshops in Lanzhou,
M~:lrçJl7º-11:
Chinese SPPImplementa tion
Experiences
Lanzhou Conference
l 2011
l,..---------------
•..Testing Mainstreaming Dissemination
Figure 5: PlOject Timeline
P~ase fam: Di::iseminatillg ~roje(t Results
The focus of the last proj~ct phase was lhe development o(policy recommendations for spp and stakeholder engagement - especially
with regard to businesses and suppliers, other Qüvernment organisalions like environmental protection bureaus, but also research ins-
titules and other cities·' PCCs.Main deliverable here was a po[icy recommendation paper to be fed into the national'polKY dialogue on
spp and the final conference.
,;SuppUrb has significont!y cof)tributed to af) improved stakeholder dialogue 0/7 sustoinoble govemment prowrement
in China. Thi.swould flot !)Ovebeen possible without the unwoverillg suppart and engogement oi o()( Chineseportners.
IntlOducing lhe lessons leorned of the SuppUrb experience inta the national evaluation process of public prowrement in
,
China wíl/ furtller widen fhe outreach and impoct af the SuppUrb project for beyand the project's pilo[ cítios.N
Urdo Eichhorst,SuPP-UrbíJoject Monoger, Wuppertollf7siilute

3 Wnat impacts did SuPP-Urb achieve?
SuPP-urb was not designed as a classical pilot project that mainly focuses on creating replicable direct
impact. Instead, it went beyond direct emissions reductions and aimed at achieving indirect effects and,
eventually, policy uptake for long-term change. As a consequence of differing impact dimensions SUPP-Urb
has several different targer groups both on local and national levei (see figo6).
Heglonall National Markets
Local Markets and Administration Other local Adrnillistratrons
-4.--------------------------------------~--------------~--~~
!oca! spatial dimension China~wide
Figure 6: SuPP-Urb lorget g!OUPSond impocl dimensions,
Direct Impact: (urbing Emissiolls anel Reducing Resource Consumption
/ Without solid and sound assessments procedures even direct impacts a're hard to measure an~ a project's
relevance fOf policy uptake is difficult to demonstrate. Therefore, assessment of direct.impact was an impor-
tant task of the project consortium. The:scientific partners on the Chinese side developed appropriate tools
for impact assessment.
It was found lhat the purchas!ng of green products by the PCCsof the three project cities during the project
implementation period achieved direct positive results in terms of energy, water and oi! savings. CO)emissi-
. ons were also reduced (see figo 7).
16

Total
Supp ';upp
10000
yuan
10000 kw 1000 Kg 1000191000 L , 1000 Kg
7869
183
95013 81498
oFigure 7.. D/reei em/S5/011 anel lesourcc consumptlon rceluctions.
2318
To gel an idea 01wheit lhe savings mean: For example, the annual electricity savings 01the procurement centres equate to the a~nual
electricity consumption of 8,293 Chinese people. In terms of CO2
emissions, the changes in procurement practices of the three 'PPCs
achieved reductions of 105,749 tonnes COz' This is the equivalent of the annual COzemissionsof 17,335 Chinese people in 2009, when
the annual per capita emissions were 6.1 tonnes.
11

"We ore excited obout the conerete emissions reductions ochieved by SPP.We were poying much otten-
tion to emissions reductions trom production proce5s ond we previously neglected the p'otentiol positive
effects lhot sustoinoble consumption could ochieve."
Mr Li Lei, Lonlhou Environmentol Protection Bureou
Indired Impact:
SuPP-Urb PPCs as Multipliers Beyond these effects, sustainable government consumption will have an
exemplary function for the general public - governments lead by setting good
lhe type of government procurement addressed by examples. Altogether, SPPcan,change private consumer and producer b~havi-
the SuPP-Urbproject adds up to about 2% of China's our as well, even for those who do not directly interact with the local ppc.
overall GOP.Whilst this is a significant share, the
real relevance of SPPbecomes clear when recogni-
sing it as a lever for'indirect impact going beyond
local SPP.
Furth.er indirect impacts can be realised when SPPimplemented by one PPC
becomes known beyond the respective administrative district,.for example
through suppliers which seI! to regional and national markets and turn towards
sustainable business pra,cticesdue to SPP.Or it can work through policy uptake,
improvements of national industry standards and through replication in other
municipalities. Final!y, successful SPPin government procurement can serve as
I i
an e,xample for a transfer to other fields ofpublic procurement with larger direct
influence in GOPterms (seefig 8).
Indirect impact describes ali secondary effects on
target groups (see figo 6) that result from sustai-
nable purchasing activities by local governments.
Indirect impacts inGlude efforts for sustainable inno-
vation by companies wil!ing to remain or become
government suppliers - with the result that the
quality and quahtity of sustainable prdducts in the
overall market increases. Other indirect impacts are
increased awareness among civil servantsin urban
administrations - they started purchasing mOfe
sustainable goods in their private lives.
Government Procurement as exampie
Successful repllcolion ood lI)stitulionalisolion af odvontogcous !)overnment procure
ment proctices can 110vesiglliUcanl Illdirect efreels when tiJey ore !ronsfcn ed to 011
fie/ds of puh!ic procurcrnent. This ~ay o morket o four lo seven limes bl9ger cou/d be
oddrc5sed directly.
18

1
InsttutiOrlilll;ed
(Proí.U! ement Centre)
Project-telated organised
by líneauthorities
1I
J
Specialisf>d BureDucracles
Focused Buildimjl
Bi9ger Market
.clt.
Potmltial Transfer
Figure 8· (hino's gavemmenl (JlOwrement os b05/S for spp in 011fields
af puólic prowrcmcnl
Assessing such indirect impacts quantitatively is challenging. The SUPP-Urb
project u5ed qualitative indiçators for 5tating relevan! indirect impacts. For
in5tance, supplier5 and llSers in two of the three cities were influenced in their
,
strategising by shifts towards SPP:Institutional consumers reported higher en-
vironmental awareness. Other cities' procurement officer5, and even provincial-
levei officials, attended project events and 50 did numerou5 potential sllPlJliers.
Project results were spread to other cities through the national network of PCCs.
lhe PP(s ar Qinhuollgc!oo Cllld lonzlíOu lliOnogcd
to eSlob!is/) cfirect col/Sullollon proccsses wilh VOI/OU,
'.' OfT}OflQ lhem compOIJ/C5 wílh reg/ono!,
notlOnu! ond evco (]/o/Jo! oulieoch !ikc e.g CIOmlc/,
nationC/! computei moou{octurer. v/C/such CO!l5u!to/ion
processes lhe PPCs cem {eee! m s/gno!s lo compon/cl'
strotegy deporlme/lls Suppliers were not only oskt!cJ
ODout file 5U510ino/J/lity of Iheir proe!uc/s, 1)/110150 o!Joul
Ihe/! env/ronmenlOl monogemenl system5. lhe ou!reocil
te;~Mr5 wos o mOjol success une! 884 SAir .upplie!s
(493 in /iO/ljl[), 175 in [olll!Jau oncf276/f) Qinhuongdoo)
were involvee! Ihrough porflC/jJotlOn /O h/deling, troinlll(j,
workshops ond 51J510/Ooble procJuct eX/Jlh/tlOnl.
19
'~-
/

"We have put a sign saying 'Sustainab/e Procurement' on the wal/ of our bid eva/uation room and in the front of our
office bui/ding. Thissign a/ways attracts the attention o(evaluators and SMEsuppliers who rf!alise tllat we at Qinhu-
angdao PPCare increasing/y imp/ementing SPP'"
Ms. Li Xiu/i, Qinhuangdoo Public Procurement Centre
Scaling-up: •
Implications for ihe Nationall.evel
National-levei policy-uptake iseven harder to
measure than indirect impaets. One reason is that
the time lag for policy uptake is even longer than
the one for indireet impacts. SuPP-urbused a
number of channels for dissemination of project
achievements and commitmentof"consortium
members opened up various opportunities: project
outputs will be fed in to ongoing policy making on
the national procurement system via participation in
hearings and commenting of lhe ongoing national
procurement survey. The project's policy recom-
mendations are also being promoted in lhe scienti-
fie reallTlllnd international injtiatives via conference
participation and publications.
National Policy Impacts:
On0 of Ille rnoin oclllevernen!s
ond Irnpo(ls 011101/0110110vel
is lho! SuPP-Urb cGnlribules to
lhe Nolrono/ SPP Evoluotion
.progromme, whích afins 01 evo-
luoting lhe CUII('f1t policies, lhell
imp/~'melllotiol1.ol1d rOlmuloling
the·next five yeor f)oUonol SPP
Plell1.
)0

One approach in Chinese policy-making is to take successful examples of local pilot projects and promote wid~r
implementation acrossthe country via nationill regulation. Impacts and lessons learned from the SuPP-Urbpro-
ject qualify the three partner cities as exactly such pilot cases. However, not only implementation in case study
cities can serve aS,example for scaling up. Looking at the impilct chain reveals a variety of actors, 'Suchas regional
suppliers or business associations, and channels such as the Internet or specialised media for driving change
beyond the local levei (see fig 9).
What SuPP-Urb(an contribufe to the future 01 sPP
Regionol Suppliers
Business
Associotions
(ompony
Presentotions
Publishing
Awards
Study iours
l.ocal Mdl'kcts ar1d ldm'lnlstration
local spatial dimension Chlna~widE'
I
ngure 9· Actors"ond chonnels fOI dnvlny spp If) C!JlIlO.
Ali these channels and actors contribute to lhe implementation of SPPancllocal successcannot be separilted
from them. Not every city uses every channel, not every PPCcooperates with each of the groups. However, ali
these aspects are relevant when it comes to disseminating lessons learned and next steps.

"Via SuPP-Urb,aur coaperatian wilh the local Enviranmental Pratectiofl Bureau hos been improved and intensified.
Theinvalvement af the local Environmental pratectian Bureau in aur procurement makes sure lhat envirann?ental
issues are nowa/ways token inta account in aur procurement activities. 1/
I..essons leamed
in the SuPP-Urbproject a'variety of different partners
cooperated to drive change in a complex system. lhe
consortium covered different development stages and
different regions in China; it brought together Euro-
pean and Chinese scientists and procurement practití-
oners. Against this background, important experiences
and lessonslearned should not get lost:
The project showed that it is possible to achieve
very good and tangible results on local levei in a
very short period of time through active ef!gage-
ment of local stakeholders.
lhe main stfength of the project was lhe aclive
involvement of the public procurement centres
(PPCs)of the three target aties plus associate
PPCsin other Chinesecities. Succes~of the project
was also secured throu~h the support of local
Environmental Protection Bureaus (EPBs)and
local scientific partners.
Mr Wu Weiyi, Oirector of Lonzlwu PPC
lhe institutionar and legal aspects for SPPin China and Europediffer starkly.
Cross-linking of experiences and mutuallearning were important elements of
the project. lhe exchange showed that many principies and procedures of SPP
in Europe are not easily transferable to China, but bear potential for adaptation
to the local context.
lhe SuPP-Urbproject focused on the implementation of SPPon city levei, the
consortium included many local authorities. Formany of them, this was the
first time to cooperate with European partners. lhe relationship with both the
partners and the associated cities proved very effective and fruitful. lhis might
be an incentive for further city-Ievel cooperation.
lhe project also offers a number of lessonsfor public authorities in olher coun-
tries, including the EU.Many lessons can be learned from the centralisation of
public procurement at city leveI.
More effective capacity buílding for local authorities on life-Cycle Costing
Illethodologies seems crucial to enable the uptake of ene.rgy efficient otrice
equipmerlt.

Sustail!1l<llbilityof 'the projed
After the completion of the project, ali three cities wi!
continue their efforts for sustainable government pro-
curement and expand their activities. PCCshave also
started iníluencing suppliers and ongoing cooperation
will see further improvements in product quality and
,
growing quantities of sustainable products. other cities
in China will very likely follow the good examples
set by SuPP-Urb.The project has shown that much
progress can be achieved on 10calleveJ. even without
changes in existing national policy frameworks. The
project re5ults will be further disseminated in the form
of inputs for national policy dialogues and in other Asi-
an countries through the SWITCHAsia Network Fatility.
Next steps
Despite lessons learned in favour of local action and
self-perpetuation of project activities, in the long run,
policy uptake will be necessary to realise SPPpoten-
tials in China. When looking at SuPP-Urbexperiences
and results, the following suggestions might help to
further improve the institútional setting for SPPin
China:
Capacity Building: Foster capacity building on the
local, provincial and national leveis.
Capacity Enhancement: Enable and support
partnerships between PPCsand local scieritilic
institutions.
Capacity Pooling: Strengthen exchange and (rea-
te virtual platforms for exchange between PPCs.
Information Coding: Further develop environmen-
tal and energy labeis with regard to t,heir transpa-
rency, reliability and applicability.
Information Architecture: provide a central plat-
form for pooling of verified supplier information
and user reports.
Information Processing: Strengthen Life-Cycle Cos-
ting as basic method for product evaluation.
Stakeholder Involvement: Set incentives for more
interactíon between PPCsand stakeholders - in
particular suppliers and other local government
authorities.
Stakeholder Capa~ities:Strengthen Lté and
LCA-related skills among PC( staff, users and
manufacturers.
Stakeholder Rewards: Let users have a share in
the monetary savings achieved through imp[O-
ved efficiency achieved through the purchase of
energy"efficient equipment based on LCC.
"The successfuf exompfes af the three SupP-Urb cities shaw tflOt procurement centres con influence consumer beha-
viour and encourage sustainabfe entrepreneurship in their administra tive districts ond for beyond - both in China and
through diofogoue with other SWITCH-Asioprojects moybe even in other Asiçm countries."
Mr. Michoel KulJndt, Manoging Director UNEP/wuppertol ColloboroUng Ccn!re on
5ustoinoble Consumption ond Procluclion
,

project (On~oftium
Wuppertai Institute for Climate, Envimnment anel Energy. .
The Wuppertallnstitute explores and develops models, strategies and irlstruments to support sustainable development. It was responsible
for the project preparation and overall coordination, setting the framework conditions for SPPand policy recommenda,tions.
More inforrTlOtionot: www. wupperinst. org
Environmental Management Coilege of (hina (EMCC)
. The Environmental Management êàllege of China has experiente in education, training and consultancies in urban environmental policies and
management. It supported project coordination, piayed lhe leading role in SPPtool and methodology development and provided technical
support in implementing SPPin lhe target cities. EMCCalso lead the development of recommendations for the national policy dialogue.
More informotion oi: www.emccm
UNEi> /Wuppertal Bnstitute CoUaboratingCentre on Sustainable (onsumption and IPmdudion «(SCP)
cSCPprovides scientific support to a,ctivities in the field {lf sustainable consumption and production. CSCPalso hosts the SWITCH-AsiaNetwork
Facility. In the SuPP-Urbproject, it developed strategies, instruments and leading tools and was responsible for the dissemination of project
results through the 5WITCH-Asianetwork:
More infO/fT1otionot: WWw.scp-cenlre.org
Nanl<aiUniversity
Nankai University is a key multi-disciplinary and research oriented university directly under the jurisdiction of the Chinese Ministry of
Education. Nankai University tool<part in ali action activities, provided technical support and played a leading role in the tool and .
methodology development.
More informotion 0(: www.nonkoi.edu.cn ond ih Englishot:.http://www.nonkoi.edu.cn/englis/J/ •

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