Politicians should put the good of the environment at the centre and share the responsibility of pushing towards European and sustainable purchasing. This is the appeal to political parties on the eve of the European elections, which came out of the press conference presenting the Forum Compraverde Buygreen: the leading event in Italy and Europe for public and private Green Procurement policies, projects, goods and services, promoted by Fondazione Ecosistemi. The two-day event, to be held in Rome on Wednesday 15 and Thursday 16 May, will take place in the WeGil spaces in Largo Ascianghi 5 and will be attended by the Minister for European Affairs, Cohesion Policies and the NRP Raffaele Fitto, the President of Regione Lazio Francesco Rocca, and the Mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri.
‘Today it is more necessary and urgent than ever to buy in Europe and to buy from those companies that respect sustainability parameters,’ emphasised the General Director, Silvano Falocco. We must use the main tools to implement decarbonisation policies: this also serves to protect companies with a higher eco-efficiency profile. In addition, it is more essential than ever to include sustainability criteria in tendering procedures for contracts. The public administration must do this, but the private sector must also do it’.
The press conference, in the Chamber of Deputies, was also attended by three MPs from the Environment Commission, Stefano Benvenuti Gostoli of Fratelli d’Italia, Ilaria Fontana, M5S, and Chiara Braga, leader of the PD group in the Chamber.
For the Fratelli d’Italia MEP, ‘public institutions must take the lead in responsible and sustainable procurement. Green Procurement is now well established to reduce environmental impact and therefore should not only be the prerogative of the public sector’.
For the Movement Cinque Stelle MEP and former Undersecretary for the Environment, ‘talking today about green public procurement puts economic, social and environmental sustainability at the centre. It also means promoting competitive sustainability. Everyone is part of the solution in the process of ecological transition and in this the public administration has a central role. Italy has all the elements to be a protagonist in Europe and show the way’.
For Braga, ‘the introduction of the mandatory CAM (Minimum Environmental Criteria) in the contract code is a fundamental bulwark for taking sustainability projects forward. The Forum is a great opportunity to address these increasingly urgent issues that can no longer be postponed’.
Many topics will be addressed in the different panels scheduled for this 18th edition: with the numerous guests, innovative projects of environmental education, social and human rights in procurement, the impact of collective catering, green hospitals, sport and sustainability, up to tackling the unfair practices of green and social washing, enhancing good practices to communicate sustainability and addressing the issue of climate change will be discussed. Protagonists of the Forum will also be city administrators, who with the network of mayors will propose new initiatives to guarantee peace, the protection of social and human rights, and the defence of environmental common goods.
The event annually unites the main players involved in the dissemination and implementation of sustainable purchasing of goods and services and the ecological conversion of production and consumption methods: institutions, companies, schools and associations. During the two-day Green Procurement General Assembly, new legislation is discussed, solutions and good practices of ecological transition are shared, networks are built and right development models for real change are replicated.
The Forum Compraverde Buygreen has the patronage and participation of the Ministry of Environment and Energy Security, Regione Lazio, Roma Capitale, in partnership with Legambiente, Coordinamento Agende 21 Locali Italiane, ALI – Autonomie Locali Italiane and Fairtrade Italia.
The two days programme is HERE!
To participate, register HERE!
