Recommendations for the revision of EU rules on public procurement
On 26 January 2026, Zero Emissions Platform (ZEP) responded to the European Commission’s Call for Evidence on the EU rules on public procurement. Key recommendations focus on how the revised framework can better support the scale-up of carbon management through credible demand creation, robust verification, effective contracting tools, and buyer capacity, while preserving legal certainty, proportionality, and administrative simplicity for contracting authorities and bidders
About the response
ZEP welcomes the European Commission’s initiative to revise the EU public procurement directives to strengthen the strategic use of public spending while simplifying procedures and improving transparency.
ZEP strongly supports the objective to simplify and modernise public procurement rules, improve flexibility, digitalisation and transparency, and make procurement a more effective strategic instrument for sustainability, resilience and economic security. In this context, procurement can play a critical role in creating lead markets and predictable demand for low-carbon and net-zero solutions, including CCS-enabled industrial products and durable carbon dioxide removals (CDR).
ZEP’s recommendations
1. Create predictable demand and lead markets for low-carbon products and materials
ZEP recommends making green public procurement criteria and targets more systematic and, where relevant, mandatory in strategic and emissions-intensive sectors. Mandatory minimum shares for low-carbon products in priority categories can further strengthen investment signals, provided that requirements are phased in over time and aligned with market readiness and supply availability.
2. Harmonise what “low-carbon / net-zero” means and how it is evidenced
For procurement to credibly support climate objectives, contracting authorities must be able to rely on clear, harmonised definitions and verifiable evidence. This is essential to enable consistent use of non-price criteria and to avoid fragmented approaches across Member States. ZEP recommends that the revised framework enables the use of EU-wide definitions, thresholds and methodologies to substantiate “low-carbon” and “net-zero” claims in procurement procedures.
3. Strengthen clean and resilient European value chains through “Made in Europe” and low-carbon conditionality
ZEP recommends that “Made in Europe” preferences be operationalised through non-price criteria that integrate resilience and sustainability considerations, and that eligibility/award requirements be conditional on both (i) EU/EEA origin/value-added criteria and (ii) robust “low-carbon”/“net-zero” performance criteria. To ensure legal certainty and comparability across the single market, these climate-performance criteria should be grounded in the harmonised EU definitions, thresholds and methodologies set out under Recommendation n°2.
4. Use procurement as a practical tool for demand-side obligations
Public procurement can operationalise demand-side obligations in a pragmatic and proportionate way. ZEP recommends enabling the use of quotas, eligibility conditions or contract clauses in procurement procedures to support low-carbon materials, CCS-enabled products and, where appropriate, durable carbon removals.
5. Adopt fit-for-purpose procedures for innovative low-carbon and net-zero procurement
The uptake of public procurement of innovation remains limited, despite its importance for deploying first-of-a-kind low-carbon and net-zero solutions. ZEP recommends simplifying and promoting procurement procedures suited to innovation, such as innovation partnerships, competitive dialogue and structured market consultations.
6. Enable aggregation of demand and long-term contracting
Aggregation of demand is critical to reducing risk and transaction costs for capital-intensive low-carbon and net-zero investments. ZEP welcomes the Commission’s focus on joint procurement, central purchasing bodies, framework agreements and buyer groups, and recommends explicitly strengthening these tools in the revised framework.
In addition, ZEP recommends enabling “joint bidding” or “portfolio bidding” mechanisms that allow several projects to bid together under a common tender procedure (or in coordinated tender rounds), where this improves deliverability and value for money.
7. Align procurement with CO2 infrastructure readiness, open access, and risk-sharing
ZEP highlights the importance of aligning procurement rules with timely permitting, cross-border coordination and infrastructure development. Risk-sharing mechanisms, including consortium-based approaches, can further support investment while safeguarding public value and ensuring continuity of service over the full contract duration.
8. Strengthen governance: digitalisation, verification, enforcement, and workable cross-border procurement
To ensure that Green Public Procurement (GPP) and other sustainability-related procurement deliver measurable and credible outcomes, ZEP recommends streamlining EU governance through harmonised monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) mechanisms.
In parallel, the revised framework should strengthen post-award compliance tools, including proportionate remedies for non-compliance and clear accountability mechanisms. ZEP also recommends removing practical barriers to cross-border and multi-authority joint procurement.
9. Build capacity so contracting authorities can deliver strategic low-carbon and net-zero procurement
Successful strategic procurement depends on capacity as much as on legal design. ZEP encourages the Commission to complement regulatory changes with investments in skills, guidance, templates and communities of practice, particularly at local and regional level.