Green procurement and purchasing (GPP) could be broadly defined as procurement and purchasing that are consistent with the principles of sustainable development, such as ensuring a strong, healthy, and just society, living within the environmental limits, and promoting governance. According to C. McCrudden, by doing so, governments participate in the market as purchaser and at the same time regulate it through the use of its purchasing power to advance conceptions of sustainable development and social justice.

[Page 238]Green procurement and purchasing is extremely important—recent studies have shown that public expenditures can account for 45 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) among developed countries, and government-driven consumption of products and services can reach 25 percent of total GDP among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, ...