Governments collaborate on green procurement

The federal government is leading a collaboration aimed at achieving common environmental goals through green procurement practices.

Through the Buyers for Climate Action (BCA) program, the Government of Canada, the governments of British Columbia and Québec and the cities of Vancouver, Toronto and Montréal will work together to share green procurement information, lessons learned and use existing national and international networks to adopt best practices.

Members must have committed to net-zero carbon operations by 2050 and must be committed to lowering carbon emissions in procurement.

Together, with more than $45 billion in purchasing requirements every year, Buyers for Climate Action participants represent a significant part of Canada’s market share in key procurement categories, such as low-carbon construction materials, zero emission vehicles and low carbon fuel.

The program covers property, information and communications technology (ICT), and vehicle and marine fleet procurement.

The BCA was established in 2021 to help drive the transition to a green, net-zero carbon economy by collaborating on green procurement. The coalition shares knowledge and collaborates on best practices to accelerate and improve green procurement practices and increase buyers’ ability to work with suppliers to provide greener goods and services

The coalition is funded through the Greening Government Fund (GGF) and has been granted $1,332,000 over three years (2021-2024). The GGF contribution will support BCA projects as well as the coalition’s secretariat, which currently sits within the Centre for Greening Government at the Treasury Board Secretariat.