Towards a Green Procurement Union: trade-offs and strategic choices

Public procurement rules define how governments spend money on goods and services. The EU's upcoming reform of public procurement will be pivotal to its green transition, but designing the reform to advance climate goals will not be straightforward; going green can be expensive, and risks creating dependencies on foreign suppliers. At this event, we explored the core trade-offs governments face when trying to align procurement with the green transition, geopolitical resilience and fiscal sustainability. This describes a challenge we call the DAS Trilemma: balancing decarbonisation, autonomy, and stability. We presented findings from a new Bruegel paper which proposed how policymakers can navigate these tensions in a shifting global landscape.