In a bid to meet climate change goals, all ministries, government entities and agencies have pledged to obtain all goods and services in accordance to the green public procurement procedures by 2027. 

Announcing the new green criteria on Friday, Environment Minister Aaron Farrugia said that the government will lead by example and the green public procurement includes all public vehicles to be electric as from next year. 

The GPP ( green public procurement) does not only limit government ministries and entities to buying electric vehicles but all products and services required. 

Farrugia explained that the plan mostly effects 17 product and service groups. 14 of these groups were given mandatory status. “This will push our environmental and ecological transition to a circular economy from the linear one we have practiced in recent years.” 

Starting the year 2022, the GPP requires the government to fulfil the objective of green vehicle procurement. This means that from 2022 onwards, tenders for vehicle procurement would specifically state that for general vehicles (passenger cars) have to meet green criteria. 

"This plan addresses public procurement from a holistic point of view to ensure that the products and services that have a lower impact on the environment become more common on the market,” Farrugia said.  

A number of initiatives have been designed to facilitate this process. Farrugia explained that not only is government leading by example, but the government will become the biggest consumer for the private sector in this regard. 

“With such ambitious measures, our country will continue to move towards the ecological transition and towards carbon neutrality,” Farrugia said in his closing statement.