GLRPPR Sector Resource: Federal "Green" Product Procurement Policy in the United States
Title:
Federal "Green" Product Procurement Policy in the United States
Abstract:
The U.S. federal government is reported to be the world's largest purchaser, which gives it the potential to wield its buying power to achieve 'secondary' policies such as protecting the environment and promoting the market for sustainable consumer
products. This paper specifically addresses federal procurement of consumer products and examines the degree to which agencies must purchase 'green' products that minimize upstream environmental impacts or otherwise have low "embedded" carbon. These policies are important because procurement preferences for sustainable goods can provide demand-side market incentives that may function as a catalyst to promote the development of green goods in the broader consumer market as a whole. Part I first reviews the history of green product procurement in the U.S., the foundation for which was established by the policies of the Clinton and Bush Administrations, while Part II discusses how President Obama has expanded these sustainable purchasing requirements. Parts III and IV address the extent to which these current rules treat
lifecycle analysis and/or otherwise account for upstream greenhouse gases or other impacts in the supply chain.
URL:
https://web.law.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/microsites/climate-change/files/Publications/Collaborations-Visiting-Scholars/us_product_procurement_ganley.pdf
Source:
Columbia Law School Center for Limate Change Law
Resource Type:
Article/report
Date of Publication:
December 2013
Associated Sectors:
