Mayors, Deputy Mayors and other political representatives from the cities of Auckland (New Zealand), Budapest (Hungary), Cape Town (South Africa), Denver (USA), Ghent (Belgium), Oslo (Norway), Seoul (South Korea) and Tshwane (South Africa) came together at the 3rd annual High Level Assembly of the Global Lead City Network on Sustainable Procurement (GLCN on SP) on 11 November 2017 at COP23 in Bonn (Germany). The cities presented their sustainable procurement commitments and achievements, and shared their knowledge and experience. In leading by example, participants of the Network aim to accelerate the implementation of sustainable purchasing worldwide.

Raymond Johansen, Governing Mayor of Oslo, explained how the capital of Norway is addressing climate change through the city’s new procurement strategy. He said: “By launching our new Procurement Strategy, the City of Oslo wants to ensure that our spending contributes to more sustainable economies and societies. As part of the Global Lead City Network on Sustainable Procurement, we want to influence other cities in doing the same.”

The City of Budapest has set ambitious targets which will see 100% of its procurement processes integrating sustainability and green aspects by 2020. These include having 70% of new vehicle purchases being 'clean', 21% CO2 reduction - all by 2020. Budapest will also implement yearly training programmes in sustainable procurement and will introduce 1100 electric vehicle chargers to the city by 2018.

Park Won Soon, Mayor of Seoul Metropolitan Government and chair of the GLCN on SP said: “Leaders of cities around the world convened in Seoul in April 2015 and agreed to launch a network of cities committed to 100 percent sustainable procurement. Much progress has been made since then and our interactions today will be the foundation on which we strive for a better, brighter, and more sustainable future.”

The Global Lead City Network on Sustainable Procurement is a group of 14 cities committed to drive a transition to sustainable consumption and production by implementing sustainable and innovation procurement. All participating cities are acting as ambassadors of sustainable procurement to lead to a resource efficient, low carbon and socially responsible society.

For more information, visit the GLCN on SP website.