Thailand Green Label, the key driver of Green Public Procurement 

Green Public Procurement (GPP) refers to the process by which public authorities consider environmental factors when purchasing goods, services, or works. GPP aims to promote sustainable consumption and production patterns, reduce environmental impacts, and drive demand for environmentally friendly products and services.

In Thailand, there have been efforts to promote GPP as part of the country’s commitment to sustainable development and environmental conservation since 2007. Here are some of the developments and potential results related to GPP in Thailand:

• Policy Initiatives: Thailand has shown interest in promoting GPP through policy initiatives and guidelines issued by relevant government agencies. The Pollution Control Department, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has been involved in drafting guidelines for GPP implementation to encourage the procurement of environmentally friendly products and services.
• Sustainable Practices: GPP can lead to the adoption of more sustainable practices across various sectors. In Thailand, this could involve the procurement of energy-efficient appliances, sustainable building materials, eco-friendly office supplies, and more.
• Market Transformation: As the public sector is a significant consumer, its adoption of environmentally friendly products and services can influence market trends. GPP can create demand for such products, encouraging manufacturers to innovate and produce more sustainable options.

• Environmental Benefits: The implementation of GPP can lead to a reduction in the environmental footprint of government operations. This includes decreased energy consumption, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and reduced waste generation.
• Challenges: However, the effectiveness of GPP depends on factors like proper implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. Challenges might include limited awareness, difficulties in measuring environmental impact, higher upfront costs for green products, and potential inconsistencies in the procurement process.

Thailand Green Label (TGL) is the only type 1 ecolabel in Thailand. TGL has been  initiated since 1993 to certify products and services that have a low environmental impact throughout the life cycle according to the ISO14024 standard and operates the certification impartially according to the ISO/IEC 17065 standard. For the 30th year TGL has developed more than 126 criteria and certified more than eight thousand models from the product group of electrical appliances, office supplies, construction equipment, automobiles, paper, clothes, furniture, cleaning products, as well as cleaning services, etc. 

On 22 March 2022, TGL has signed MOU with the Pollution Control Department, a responsible agency of GPP in Thailand, in order to promote all certified type I ecolabel products and services by TGL for government procurement. This leads to the number of environmentally friendly products and services listed for GPP increasing up to 1,872 (accounting for 20% increase). However, reporting the results of Green public procurement in the fiscal year of 2022, there are only small number (accounting for 13% of total government agencies) that report green procurement results. The total value of products and services that are environmentally friendly is 217 million baht or 49% of the total purchased value of products and services that are reported by participating agencies. The amount of greenhouse gases can be reduced 1,908,718 kgCO2e calculated from 4 major reported 4 types of products that were paper, toner cartridges, photocopiers, and printers.

The 2022-2027 action plan for promoting Thailand GPP has focused on driving the target group (central and local government agencies including the state enterprises) to increase both amount and value of green procurement of products and services by the following strategies;

• Develop or improve rules and regulations on public procurement as a compulsory measure and encourage government agencies to procure environmentally friendly products and services at least 30% of the total purchased value.
• Set indicators and details to drive integration between ministries (Joint KPIs) and between ministries and provinces (Function-Area KPIs).

Table 1 Data reports on the results of green public procurement from government agencies participation.

Figure 1 Number of registered products and services compared to GPP reported

GPP list of products and services: http://gp.pcd.go.th