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Introduction and benefits

The public procurement Barcelona City Council has been pushing ahead with is promoting the city's sustainable development under the principles set out in the the General Assembly of the United Nations’ report “Transforming our world: Agenda 2030 for sustainable development” and in the European Commission's Europe 2020 Strategy.

These documents understand sustainability as a crucial factor for building a fair society that takes account of human rights and equality among people, respects the environment by making optimum use of natural resources and encourages responsible consumption. As a cross-cutting element, innovation is also being bolstered to ensure these social and environmental goals are achieved as efficiently as possible.

The guidelines here, within the realm of Barcelona City Council , are spelt out in Mayoral Decree S1/D/2017-1271, of 24 April, on Sustainable Public Procurement, approving the measures and guidelines for applying sustainability to the contracts entered into by the City Council.

Decree

Benefits

Social and employment progress

Fons morat
  • Improvement in workers’ employment conditions: greater stability, higher salaries and workforce entitlement by subrogation.
  • Recruiting unemployed people with special job-placement or social-exclusion problems.
  • Guaranteed gender equality and non-discrimination against LGBTI people.

    • Environmental protection

    Fons turquesa
  • Reduction of impact of secondary negative effects on the environment.
  • Greater efficiency in the use of natural resources.
  • Promoting responsible consumption

    • Fostering innovation

    Fons groc
  • Improved offer and quality of public services to better meet the public’s needs.
  • More strategic, efficient and transparent use of public expenditure.
  • Access of SMEs to innovative public purchasing, thereby promoting their development and creating quality jobs.