oxford green approaches to public procurement (OXGAP)

The Oxford Initiative for Green Approaches to Public Procurement (OxGAP) is a research and engagement initiative led by Oxford Net Zero and the Net Zero Regulation and Policy Hub. The project explores how governments can embed climate commitments into their procurement policies and practices, turning public spending into a catalyst for innovation, green supply chains, and accelerated decarbonization. Through comparative case studies, policy analysis, and expert interviews, OxGAP identifies both barriers and solutions – helping governments move from climate pledges to effective action.​

Public procurement accounts for 13-20% of global GDP and drives 15% of global emissions – making government spending a powerful tool for driving climate action.​​ By embedding climate considerations into purchasing decisions, governments can de-risk the economy, shift markets toward sustainability, create demand for products for the future, and strengthen supply chains—all while delivering essential public services.

OxGAP’s research is organised around three interlinked research tracks, each designed to uncover practical insights and concrete strategies for aligning public procurement with climate and sustainability goals. Each track will deliver a set of academic papers, policy briefs, and practical tools aimed at governments, international organisations, and procurement practitioners.​

Approaches and Case Studies for Green Aligned Public Procurement (White Paper for Governments): This track maps three main governance approaches governments use to align procurement with climate goals—centralized, decentralized, and task-force-led. It will also examine two core regulatory strategies: regulating products through ecolabels and suppliers through corporate governance requirements, like transition plans. Case studies in countries such as Brazil, the UK, Canada, Korea, and Australia will illustrate how these approaches work in practice, what trade-offs governments face, and how institutional, market, and political conditions shape the best-fit approach for different contexts.

Policy Pathways: This track explores the theoretical underpinnings of different typologies of Green Public Procurement. Through in-depth interviews, it aims to uncover the barriers, tradeoffs, and opportunities between different approaches – examining the political science foundations underlying each approach. The resulting paper and policy brief will provide detailed analysis of how different approaches to GPP have come to be and the opportunities for catalytic cooperation that accompany them. 

Ecolabels and Standards: This track builds on data collected through the Oxford Climate Policy Hub, which systematically tracks how governments reference or require climate-related standards in public procurement policies across 30 jurisdictions. Interviews with procurement officials and policymakers will aim to understand how private ecolabels, certifications, and sustainability standards are being used in practice. The resulting paper and policy brief will analyze how these tools can bridge the gap between public climate commitments and procurement practice, and where they create barriers, confusion, or unintended consequences for suppliers and buyers.

In addition to drawing on the Oxford Climate Policy Hub’s regulatory monitoring data, OxGAP will conduct a series of expert interviews with procurement officials, policymakers, and sustainability practitioners across focus countries. These interviews will surface real-world challenges and enablers, helping the project move beyond theoretical analysis to practical, experience-based recommendations.​ Together, these outputs will help policymakers understand which pathways make the most sense in their national context—and what steps they need to take next to unlock procurement’s potential as a driver of climate action, innovation, and sustainable development.​