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22 February 2012 | Angeline Albert
The Western Cape Government
is to become the first province in South Africa to incorporate environmental
criteria into its procurement processes. The white paper will be published and
made available for public consultation in six months.
The provincial authority has announced it
is drafting a green procurement white paper so environmental measures become
part of supply chain management.
The regional government proposes to mandate
public buyers to consider the province’s strategic plan, which contains green
goals. The white paper is expected to include a requirement that 15 per cent of
the electricity procured by the province’s purchasers be from renewable sources
by 2014.
Helen Zille, premier of the Western Cape,
has set green objectives to ensure 10 per cent of energy and water is saved in
offices owned by the regional government and public buildings including
hospitals.
“Our government is finalising the draft
green procurement white paper, which will provide general principles and
guidelines for integrating environmental criteria into supply chain
management,” Zille said in her state of the province address last week.
She added the drafting of the white paper was
a response to the United Nations Climate Change Conference hosted by South
Africa at the end of last year, at which it was decided by international
governments to adopt a legal agreement on climate change no later than 2015. South
Africa wants at least 16 per cent of its energy to be generated from renewable
sources within the next two decades.