PRESS RELEASE
6 December 2024
Public thematic report
CONSIDERING SUSTAINABILITY IN CENTRAL
GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT
Central government procurement totalled around €60 billion (or 2.5 % of GDP) in 2022. The
awarding of public procurement contracts is governed by three fundamental principles that
structure regulations in this area: equal treatment of candidates, freedom of access to public
procurement and transparency of procedures. This emphasis on economic efficiency, which
is reflected in the prevalence given to price when selecting service providers, must now be
reconciled with other objectives, including sustainability. The National Sustainable
Procurement Plan (PNAD) sets two targets for the end of 2025: the first requires 30 % of
public procurement contracts notified in the course of a year to include at least one social
consideration; the second requires 100 % of public procurement contracts to include at least
one environmental consideration. This second objective was enshrined in the Climate and
Resilience Act, enacted in 2021, which also requires contracts above European thresholds to
include a social performance condition from August 2026. Against this backdrop, the Court
of Accounts wanted to evaluate the actual impact of this new legislative and regulatory
framework. It set out to answer three questions.
To what extent have the Climate and Resilience Act and the National Sustainable
Procurement Plan led to the inclusion of social and environmental clauses and criteria in
government contracts?
A very sharp increase in the proportion of contracts that include social or environmental
considerations was noted in 2023: 55 % of contracts awarded by central government included
an environmental consideration and 25 % a social consideration. The requirement set out in the
Climate and Resilience Act for all public procurement contracts to include both a selection
criterion and an environmental clause from August 2026 remains a very ambitious objective.
The Court identifies a number of limitations in terms of the reliability of these figures and
highlights the risk that certain considerations may not have any real operational significance.
While the awarding of contracts is well monitored, their performance is much less so, making it
very difficult to assess the actual impact of the social and environmental considerations
included. The Court therefore recommends setting up operational indicators to monitor the
implementation of the requirements of the Climate and Resilience Act, ramping up training and
information on sustainable procurement for government buyers, and specifically monitoring
the execution of a sample of services or works with a high impact in terms of sustainable
development.
Have the social considerations of government contracts had an impact on inclusion through
employment, and have they enabled other social objectives to be taken into account?
The central government is not in a position to play a major role in inclusion through
employment via its purchases. This is because its purchases do not concern sectors in which
there is a strong presence of organisations working for social inclusion (gardening, certain
building trades, etc.). Moreover, the current monitoring of hours of work performed by workers
with inclusion contracts does not allow an assessment of the sustainability of this inclusion. The
Court recommends that nationwide surveys be carried out to monitor the career development
of beneficiaries. It also recommends that the government better mobilise the network of
entities that facilitate the integration of social considerations to help buyers include clauses
relating to other social issues (disability, sheltered employment) in their contracts.
Has the inclusion of environmental considerations had an impact on greenhouse gas
emissions?
France has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions through international
agreements and national legislation. However, the central government has not fully met its legal
obligation to publish a greenhouse gas emissions report by 31 December 2012. However,
unpublished research by the General Commission for Sustainable Development estimates that
purchases of goods and services account for around 27 % of the government's annual
greenhouse gas emissions, making procurement an important tool for reducing these
emissions. The integration of specific CO
2
emission reduction criteria in the assessment of
tenders is still in its infancy. The Court notes initiatives in the purchases of works. The approach
has gained maturity but still only concerns small financial amounts. The Court recommends the
publication of methodological guides for taking CO
2
emissions into account when selecting
candidates to help buyers in this process, starting with the sectors that present the biggest
challenges.
Read the report
PRESS CONTACTS:
Julie Poissier
Communications Director
T
+33 (0)6 87 36 52 21
julie.poissier@ccomptes.fr
Jean-Christian Gauze
■
Press Office
■
jean-christian.gauze@ccomptes.fr
@Courdescomptes
ccomptes
Cour des comptes
Cour des comptes