Green Tech in Procurement Law 2026

Definition: Green tech (green technology) refers to products, processes and services that, through technological innovation, contribute to reducing environmental impacts, conserving resources and meeting climate goals, and that can serve in public procurement as the subject or criterion of environmentally focused purchasing.

Last updated: January 2026 · Legal basis: Art. 67 Directive 2014/24/EU; § 58 VgV; § 91 BVergG 2018; EU Taxonomy Regulation (EU) 2020/852

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What is green tech in the procurement context?

In public procurement, green tech covers a broad spectrum of technologies – from renewable energy and energy-efficiency solutions to water treatment and the circular economy, and on to low-emission vehicles and sustainable building materials. The term is not a legal term of procurement law, but an economic umbrella term that has gained importance in the context of the European Commission's Green Public Procurement (GPP) strategy and national sustainability goals.

Green tech and public procurement

Public contracting authorities can actively promote green tech through various procurement-law instruments:

• Technical specifications: Setting environmental standards, energy efficiency classes or eco-labels (e.g. EU Ecolabel, Blue Angel)
• Award criteria: Ecological characteristics such as energy consumption, carbon footprint or recyclability as evaluation criteria
• Contract conditions: Requirements for environmentally friendly performance (e.g. use of renewable energy on the construction site)
• Innovation partnership: Developing new green-tech solutions within the procurement procedure itself

Eco-labels and proof

Contracting authorities can require the submission of eco-labels and environmental labels as proof of green-tech properties, provided that the requirements are objectively justified and non-discriminatory (§ 34 VgV; § 94 BVergG 2018). However, bidders must have the opportunity to prove compliance by equivalent means if they do not hold the specific label.

Recognised eco-labels:

• EU Ecolabel
• Blue Angel (Germany)
• Austrian Ecolabel
• EMAS certification
• ISO 14001

Green tech in the EU Taxonomy

The EU Taxonomy Regulation (EU) 2020/852 defines which economic activities are considered environmentally sustainable and thereby creates a uniform basis for assessing green-tech solutions in the procurement context. In the future, procurement may increasingly be aligned with taxonomy conformity, particularly in large infrastructure and energy projects.

FAQ

May a contracting authority tender exclusively for green-tech solutions? Yes, provided the requirements are objectively justified, proportionate and non-discriminatory. A purely technology-specific tender without an equivalence-open formulation may, however, be anti-competitive.

Must public contracting authorities prefer green tech? EU procurement law does not generally require a preference for green tech, but it allows it to be taken into account. Austria and Germany have national action plans for sustainable procurement that call for the promotion of green tech.

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Last updated: January 2026 All information is provided without warranty. For legally binding advice, please consult a law firm specialising in procurement law.