A guide to sustainable public procurement in the EU

Copyright © 2025 LexisNexis
Produced in partnership with Catherine Wolfenden of Osborne Clarke and Deborah Ramshaw of Womble Bond Dickinson
Practice notes

A guide to sustainable public procurement in the EU

Copyright © 2025 LexisNexis

Produced in partnership with Catherine Wolfenden of Osborne Clarke and Deborah Ramshaw of Womble Bond Dickinson

Practice notes
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This Practice Note is a guide to the implementation of sustainable procurement under Directive 2014/24/EU. It identifies the main ways in which this can be achieved, such as the application of labels to technical specifications and sustainability assessments during selection and award. It also considers the use of performance requirements as a way to include environmental and social considerations.

Promoting sustainable development via public procurement

Directive 2014/24/EU (the Public Contracts Directive) derives its authority from the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU), which requires that environmental protection obligations must be integrated into the definition and implementation of the EU's policies and activities, in particular with a view to promoting sustainable development.

In implementing its policies, the EU must also take into account:

  1. •

    the guarantee of adequate social protection (Article 8 TFEU)

  2. •

    the fights against discrimination and social exclusion (Article 9 TFEU)

  3. •

    the elimination of inequality (Article 10 TFEU)

The Public Contracts Directive aims to increase the efficiency of

Catherine Wolfenden
Catherine Wolfenden

Partner, Osborne Clarke

Catherine is head of Osborne Clarke's Regulatory Group and is a Partner in our Commercial and Regulatory Disputes team. Her practice is focused on advising clients on EU and UK business regulation, regulatory investigations, crisis management, enforcement and prosecutions. She advises on dealing with economic regulators as well as the full range of other UK and EU regulatory bodies. She is a recognised expert in public and utilities regulated procurement and advises on all aspects of the procurement process. Her clients include suppliers, public bodies and utilities. Catherine has also been involved in some of the leading UK High Court procurement challenges and advises on challenging EU institution procurements in Luxembourg. .Catherine qualified as a lawyer in 2001 at Freshfields, qualified as a solicitor advocate in 2004 and has been a Partner at Osborne Clarke since 2011.

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Deborah Ramshaw
Deborah Ramshaw

Partner, Womble Bond Dickinson

Deborah is a nationally renowned procurement law specialist, noted for her commercial and pragmatic advice to clients. She is also WBD's Head of Procurement. 

Deborah advises clients in the public and private sector and uses her knowledge of acting for both sectors to provide practical advice on running processes which are as defensible as possible and advising bidders on how to challenge processes.

Deborah has a particular interest in advising on procuring innovation and complex projects. Deborah has significant experience in establishing and using framework agreements.

Deborah advises clients in a wide range of sectors including central and local government, NHS bodies, education, transport and utilities sectors and third sector organisations.

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Jurisdiction(s):
European Union

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