Sustainable Public Procurement: Green Room Air Conditioners on Government e-Marketplace

Government e-Marketplace (GeM), launched in 2016, is an online platform for public procurement in India with the objective to create an open and transparent procurement platform for government buyers. Room Air Conditioners (ACs) are a high priority product for Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) because of the high environmental impact an AC has over its life, from manufacturing, usage, servicing, and disposal. Sales of Room ACs are growing at over 15% annually, with over 44,000 ACs worth Rs. 1.7 Billion were procured on the GeM platform alone last year. The enabling policy and supporting regulations for Green ACs already exist, thereby ensuring ease of implementing sustainable public procurement.