The Australian government launched the Environmentally Sustainable Procurement Policy (ESP Policy) to improve its ability to measure the environmental outcomes from supplier agreements.
The Infrastructure Sustainability Council (ISC) supports the policy and will apply its Infrastructure Sustainability (IS) Rating to assess environmental sustainability.
The policy emphasizes three key areas: climate, the environment, and circularity, which involves maximizing resource usage through refurbishment, reuse, repair, recycling, and alternative methods like leasing/renting.
The policy requires suppliers to report against relevant metrics on all government contracts covered by the policy, including infrastructure projects with a procurement value threshold of $7.5 million or more from 1 July 2024.
Other categories will be introduced from 1 July 2025 for procurements at or above $1 million, including furniture, fittings and equipment; information and communication technology (ICT) goods; and textiles.
One of the measures approved in the ESP Policy Framework is to obtain a a verified IS Rating from the ISC.
Patrick Hastings, Acting CEO of the Infrastructure Sustainability Council, emphasized the significance of the policy in promoting sustainable procurement practices.
He commended the Minister for the Environment and Water, the Honourable Tanya Plibersek MP, for selecting the ISC’s IS Rating Tools, viewing it as a strong endorsement of environmentally sustainable procurement.
The ISC also voiced its support for annually reporting performance results against the ESP Policy key indicators, believing it will propel progress towards achieving net zero emissions by 2050.
The policy’s success will be evaluated based on three key performance indicators: reducing greenhouse gas emissions, promoting circular economy principles, and the number of suppliers implementing a Supplier Environmental Sustainability Plan (SESP).
The federal government is dedicated to ensuring accountability for performance under the ESP Policy, with annual publication of results against the key performance indicators on the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water’s website to uphold transparency.