Energy, when public spending is not green
Only one third of tenders for energy supplies comply with the Gpp (Green public procurement). All the numbers of the Green Procurement Observatory of Legambiente and the Ecosystems Foundation in italics by Nunzio Ingiusto
It is done and not said. We want a greener and more sustainable Italy, but if you say so you have to be consistent. Instead, it seems that the Public Administration puts aside what it does when it makes purchases
– despite ourselves – the political rhetoric for an eco-sustainable Italy appears to us. The environmental impacts, pollution, energy savings are not yet in the strings of the buyer state. It spends 170 billion a year, but spends only 40 billion for environmentally friendly purchases. All in the hands of a ruling class that should, instead, respect Green Public Procurement (Gpp). That system in force for public tenders is also foreseen by the Procurement Code.
The updated data on the spendthrift state come from the Green Procurement Observatory of Legambiente and the Ecosystems Foundation. An important, growing business, a real help for many virtuous companies ready to lend a hand in the transition to a new social model. Conferences and talk shows are full of swollen environmental statements, hardly detected on the ground. In the end it will have to be accounted for, because the money belongs to everyone.
The Green Procurement Observatory is the only civic monitoring action of Green Procurement and we hope that our work can be a stimulus for the institutions, said the director of Legambiente, Giorgio Zampetti. Unfortunately, the Ministry of the Environment does not have the same analytical capacity. For Minister Sergio Costa, the Public Administration – and by assimilation, the government – is on the right track because the turnover has risen compared to 9.5 billion in 2017.
In municipalities and regions, the imbalance between what is said and what happens in practice is evident. If they need energy purchases, the "chosen people" do not go for the subtle, looking for what has less impact on the environment.
So we learned that only a third of the tenders for energy supplies comply with the GPP. Photovoltaic, thermal insulation, insulation, efficient boilers, less cold schools, are terms that are not easily traced in the tenders and resolutions.
Blame the peripheral structures of the state that indicate the races, it is said. Instead, we think that something is wrong at the central level. In particular, a preventive evaluation system for tenders does not work, with clear parameters and scores to give sustainable effectiveness to purchases.
Politics is involved, all of which are now probably fulminated on the path of energy transition. The capacity of the state for a horizon with a decreasing environmental impact must be expressed not only at the bureaucratic level. Energy together with public buildings, public parks, waste are infinite spaces for the state to redirect its spending.
Proclamations from the stands and congresses are not needed if only 15.6% control the quality of purchases through the Minimum Environmental Criteria (Cam). It is the wrong approach, besides a weak administrative machine.
Many large cities suffer from waste and from tenders to winning firms. Yet just over a third (32.1%) of the mayors of the capital city adopt environmental criteria to manage the system. Then we have cities overwhelmed with garbage and the use of illegal landfills.
What sense do the words of so many leaders have if the state works in this way? And if the public hand takes this step, the goal of sustainability for citizens becomes little more than a distant image. Also faded.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/energia/energia-quando-la-spesa-pubblica-non-e-green/ on Sun, 11 Oct 2020 06:14:17 +0000.