Date source: 2026-08-17
Environmental criteria for public procurement evolve on August 21 Published on August 18, 2026 - Entreprendre Service Public / Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister's Office)
As of August 21, the environmental criteria for public procurement evolve. New obligations have been put in place by the Climate and Resilience Act and are imposed on public buyers. Its objective is to integrate prevention and adaptation measures into public policies in order to strengthen the consideration of environmental factors. Companies must prepare now for these changes. Entreprendre Service Public explains.
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Tenders already published remain under the old regime. Contracts in progress signed before August 21, 2026 remain subject to their initial clauses; this also applies to renewals.
Article 35 of the Climate and Resilience Act modifies the public procurement code, as of August 21, by establishing two new environmental obligations for public contracts:
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the environmental award criterion: At least one of the criteria for the public contract must include an environmental criterion. This means that the buyer must also consider an environmental criterion in their scoring grid. It must be relevant to the subject matter of the contract. If a deficiency is demonstrated on the environmental level, it may have a direct impact on the final score of the bid. The use of price as the sole criterion is therefore definitively eliminated.
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the environmental performance clause: Also, the buyer will be obligated to include at least one environmental performance condition. It must be linked to the subject matter of the contract, executable and verifiable. This obligation must be respected throughout the execution of the contract. This could be a prohibition on the use of single-use packaging on a construction site or the obligation to use certain types of environmentally friendly materials.
Companies can prepare documentation attesting to their environmental performance. They must be able to provide concrete and objective evidence. When a company commits to a public contract, the environmental clauses are binding throughout the execution of the contract. A company that does not meet these commitments is subject to penalties or contract termination.
These new obligations are not merely declarative. They are contractual obligations that must be monitored during the execution of the contract.
Legal texts and references
See also
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Public procurement measures from the Climate and Resilience Act and the Green Industry Act regarding sustainable procurement Ministry of Economy
Source: Service-Public professionals