1. Hiroyuki Sato Secretary General Green Purchasing Network (GPN)
Green Purchasing in Japan
- Progress, Current Conditions, and Future -
Hiroyuki Sato Secretary General Green Purchasing Network (GPN)

2. What is green purchasing?
Price
Quality
Conveni- ence ＋
Environment
それでははじめに、グリーン購入とは何かをご紹介しましょう。
グリーン購入とは、製品やサービスを買うときに、価格、品質、利便性だけでなく環境のことも考え、環境への負荷ができるだけ少ないものを優先して購入することです。
毎日の暮らしや仕事の中で、わたしたちはいろいろなモノを買い、サービスを利用しています。これらをすべて環境の視点から見直し、環境にやさしいモノを選ぶことがグリーン購入なのです。 ＝
Green purchasing
GPN

3. What does “green purchasing” mean?
＜Basic rule of green purchasing＞
When you purchase something, consider the necessity, taking the environment, as well as quality and price into account, and try to purchase a product or service with the least environmental impact from the businesses of those who make a conscious effort to care for the environment.

4. Principles of Green Purchasing
Principle 1 – Deliberate the necessity before purchasing
Principle 2 - Consider the environmental impact of a product at all stages of its life cycle.
followed by eight detailed aspects.
Principle 3 – Assess suppliers’ environmental management and activities,
Principle 4 - Gather environmental information on products and suppliers
By Green Purchasing Network(GPN)

5. Green purchasing changes a corporation
Encouraging environmentally conscious management
and product development through the market
Eco-design
Green purchasing
Consumer
Corporation
Green market
持続可能な社会づくりが急がれるいま、このグリーン購入が各方面から注目されています。
それは、環境に負荷の少ないエコプロダクツの開発を促進するためには、消費者がグリーン購入を進めることが不可欠であり、もっとも効果的だからです。「環境に良いものを作れば売れる。買ってもらえる」という状況になれば、黙っていても企業は競争してエコプロダクツの開発に取り組むようになります。
グリーン購入は、環境に熱心な企業を支援し、育てることです。消費者はマーケットを通じて企業の取り組みを促し、持続可能な社会作りに貢献することができるのです。
Green product
Governments and corporations
are large scaled-consumer.
Environmentally
conscious management
Establish a sustainable society
GPN

6. Manufacturer/service business
Construct a green supply chain
Promotion of green purchasing/procurement
Environmentally conscious management
Develop greener products ＋
Raw material supplier
Material supplier
Manufacturer/service business
End user

7. Green Purchasing Network (GPN)
Founded in February 1996 to promote green purchasing in Japan by the initiative of Environment Agency
Since then GPN has taken a leading role to promote green purchasing in Japan.
The mission of the GPN
to spread out the concept and practices of green purchasing
to provide guidelines and information necessary for practicing green purchasing.

8. About GPN Independent non-profit organization
2,732 members (as of Nov. 2002)
2,099 corporations
364 governments
269 NGOs, NPOs
Executive Committee: 35 members
Secretariat: 6 staff
Budget: US$600,000/year
Membership fee : 50%
Project income : 40%
Subsidy : 10%
Business
Government
NGO

9. Members of GPN All of 47 prefectural governments
All of 12 designated cities – Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Sendai, Sapporo, Yokohama…..
Large businesses
Sony, Canon, NEC, Fuji Xerox, Ricoh, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Matsushita Electric Industrial, Nippon Steel, Seiko Epson, Hitachi, Toshiba, Mitsubishi Corp., JT, Suntory, Kikkoman, Tokyo Gas, Development Bank of Japan, NTT, JR, Tokyo Electric Power……

10. Necessity of Initiatives by Public Sectors
Have significant impact on the market [about 20% of the market]
Can help to improve reliability of the “green” products
Can reduce the cost of “green” products by creating initial demand
Expand availability of “green” products in local areas
Raise awareness of staff, that can lead to greening the government

11. Law on promoting Green Purchasing
May 2000, the Law on Promoting Green Purchasing was enacted, and enforced in 2001.
All the State ministries and agencies must draw up annual “procurement policy”, to practice the plan, practice it , and are required to to report the result to Environmental Minister.
Local authorities are imposed “efforts” to implement green purchasing activities.

12. Designated Procurement Items of the Law
All of the State institutions are obligated to implement green purchasing for the designated procurement items
152 items of 14 categories
Copying and printing paper, Stationery and office supplies, Office furniture, Electric appliance, Office automation equipment, Lighting apparatus and lamps, Motorcars, Uniforms and work wear, Interior, Building material of public project, Services

13. Law on Promoting Green Purchasing, Designated Procurement Items -1 “Evaluation criteria” and “Items to be considered”
Copying paper: Used paper: 100%, brightness: less than 70%
Printing paper: Used paper: 70%, brightness less than 70%
Stationery: Recycled plastics: 40%/Use of thinned wood, Used paper: 50% 【Considerations】 Change or refill of consumable stores, “R” design
Office furniture: Recycled plastics: 10%/Use of thinned wood, Least emission of formaldehyde/Used paper: 50%【Considerations】 Repairable, Parts exchangeable
Copying machines: Energy-saving standards/International Energy Star standards 【Considerations】Recovery and recycling of cartridges
Personal computers: Energy-saving standards 【Considerations】Recovery of products, “R” system, Reuse of parts, Use of recycled plastics

14. Law on Promoting Green Purchasing, Designated Procurement Items -2 “Evaluation criteria” and “Items to be considered”
Refrigerators: Energy-saving standards 【Considerations】 Impacts of coolant and insulation materials on global warming, Use of recycled plastics
Air-conditioners: Energy-saving standards 【Considerations】 Use of recycled plastics
Motorcars: Low-pollution vehicles, transitional low-emission vehicles (TLEV) 【Considerations】 Reduction of lead, Use of recycled materials
Fluorescent devices: Hf inverter/Energy-saving standard
Uniforms and working wear: Recycled PET resin 10% or more 【Considerations】 Recovery and recycling of products
Printers, facsimile machines, television sets, VTRs, Fluorescent tubes, curtains, carpets, blankets, gloves
Solar power generation system, fuel cells, solar thermal utilization system
Public construction: Use of recycled materials, Use of low-pollution type construction machines
Diagnosis on energy saving

15. Movements of Law on Promoting Green Purchasing 　～ Addition and Review of Designated Procurement Items ～
Papers: Addition of 5 items including OCR papers, tissue paper, etc.
Stationery: Addition of 18 items including cloth adhesive tape, desk mats, etc.
Apparatus: Addition of 3 items including coat-hangers, umbrella stands, etc.
OA apparatus: Addition of display, Partial alteration of energy-saving standards
Motorcars: Addition of LPG vehicles
Interior: Addition of futon mats, beds and mattresses
Equipment: Addition of kitchen garbage processing equipment
Public construction: Addition of 17 items including slag aggregate, earth and sand, paints, insulation materials, insulation sash doors, automatic clocks, etc.
Services: Addition of restaurants and reuse of tires
Printing: Addition of standard for printing ink, Change of category to services
GPN

16. Impact of the Law
A Survey shows 18 % of local governments “started the green purchasing under the influence of the law.”
Many of companies manufacturing “designated procurement items” accelerated development of “green” products which can meet the criteria.

17. Number of organizations
Increase in the number of organizations that have promoted green purchasing ～it has become to rapidly grow in around 1996 when GPN established～
GPN 16 28 35 45
109
217
398
577
802
962
1128 20 22 31 53 76
121
178
256
297
402
200
400
600
800
1000
1200 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01
(Estimates)
Office supplies
Year
Number of organizations
Parts, materials and packaging materials

18. Present Status in Public Sectors
All the central government ministries practices green purchasing
All the 47 prefectural governments and 12 designated cities are engaged in green purchasing
47% of 700 cities implement green purchasing organizationally
Particularly advanced areas ; papers, office supplies, office furniture, OA & IT equipments, motorcars, uniforms, and electric appliances

19. Current Status of Business Sectors
Findings from survey by GPN in 2002
51% of responding companies have written policies on green purchasing
36% of them have adopted green purchasing policies on parts and materials.
52% of them consider suppliers’ EMS and other environmental activities

20. Market Impact of Green Purchasing
Findings from survey by GPN in 2001
74% of suppliers responded “sales of green products increased in the past couple of years”
75% of the suppliers have increased the numbers of green products brand
Expansion of green purchasing has had a great impact on the market in Japan

21. Outline of Green Procurement of Parts and Materials
Green procurement of parts and materials have been expanding around electric equipment and machinery manufacturers.
Environment has been added to the conventional consideration points of quality, cost and delivery.
Green procurement standards and targets are set for carrying out the activities.
The following combination of assessments forms the mainstream.
Evaluation of parts and materials (chemical contents, etc.)
Evaluation of suppliers’ corporate structures
Efforts are made to gain cooperation of business partners through seminars, presentation of successful cases, and positive support.
The campaign has been expanded to include business partners in Asia and other parts of the world.
Toward the greening of world-wide industries through the supply chain.

22. Incentives to Green Procurement of Parts and Materials
〈Evaluation of parts and materials〉
Cooperation with trade partners is indispensable to upgrade the “greenness” of the company’s own products.
Respond to the needs of customers for green purchasing
Reduce the risks at the time of disposal based upon EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility)
Avoid the risks relating to chemical substances
Reduce environmental impact throughout the product life cycle and reduce the cost of disposal.
〈Evaluation of suppliers〉
The business partners can strengthen their management structure by establishment of an environmental management system.
Cost reductions can be realized through the reduction of waste, energy and resource saving, etc.

23. Green Procurement ― Movement on “Evaluation of parts and materials”
Investigation of chemical contents in parts and materials
Prohibited substances: Substances to be abolished or substituted
To-be-reduced substances: Substances to be reduced
Controlled substances: Substances to be adequately controlled
Other items to be considered (Energy and resource saving, recyclability, packaging materials, etc.)
Carrying out the survey on suppliers. General parts are put into the data base within the company and used by the designing division. Special parts are to be developed under mutual cooperation.
Reduction of lead in soft soldering, reduction of hexavalent chrome in steel plates, reduction of halogen family substances, etc. are the points to be appealed.

24. Green Procurement ― Common Approaches to Investigating Chemical Substances
Manufacturers in the electric industry, etc. established the “guidelines for common investigation of green procurement” in March 2002.
As of September 2002, 28 corporations have joined in the move including Canon, Fuji Xerox, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Seiko Epson, Toshiba, IBM Japan, Ricoh, Mitsubishi Electric, Matsushita Electric Industrial, NEC, NTT, etc.
This has been to minimize the cost of investigation to each of the companies and to upgrade the precision of research
Common items of investigation are limited to chemical contents of materials.
28 groups of substances have been designated for the investigation.
It does not refrain member corporations from carrying out additional research of their own.
The move aims at establishing a global standard through discussions with industrial associations in Europe and the United States.
As for common data base of parts and materials, discussions are underway among concerned parties.

25. List A (28 groups of substances)
Targeted Chemical Substances (List A)
List A (28 groups of substances)
Interpretation of List A
(1) Focused on laws and regulations relating to wastes, prohibitions on production and usage, and wastewater.
(2) Weighting of list A items is left to the judgement of each member company.
(3) The investigation is principally limited to families of substances. Further details are left to each member company.
(4) Answers are given on intentionally added substances or on substances known to be contained.
(5) No threshold values are given. (Answers are based on responsibilities of member companies.)
※1 Chromium compounds other than hexavalent chrome and metallic chrome
※2 Nickel compounds other than metallic nickel
※3 Halogen family resin additives other than paraffin chloride, PBB and PBDE
※4 Azo compounds forming specific amine
※5 Substances designated by Montreal Protocol

26. Green Procurement ― Movements on “evaluation of suppliers”
Emphasize the importance of establishing an Environmental Management System (EMS).
Require major suppliers to obtain ISO14001 certification.
Many businesses demand the establishment of EMS not limited to ISO.
Some businesses are proposing a system to simplify ISO and to gradually upgrade, in order to modify the burden on the suppliers’ side.
Many businesses are providing support and consultation for the establishment of EMS.
Other than the above, the following activities are also considered.
Environmental policy, organization, plan, environmental education, compliance with the law, disclosure of information
Product assessment, development of environmentally conscious parts and materials, green procurement
Recovery and recycling of used products and packaging materials
Many businesses declare that unless the requirements are fulfilled within the specified period, trade transactions shall be discontinued.

27. Evaluation Criteria in Product Selection (Guidelines) ～ 60% for eco-mark, 53% for GPN guidelines ～9%
11%
13%
32%
53%
60% 0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
70%
Others
None in particular
Standards, etc. by other organizations
Evaluation criteria of Law on Promoting Green Purchasing
GPN purchasing guidelines
Approval criteria of eco-mark
GPN

28. Environmental Labels by Third-party Organizations, etc.
International Energy Star
Save-energy label
Eco-mark
PET bottle recycling recommendation mark
FSC Forest accreditation
Certification of low emission vehicle

29. GPN Purchasing Guidelines  
Copying and printing paper
Copiers, printers, facsimile machines
Personal computers
Motorcars
Refrigerators, Washing machine, TV, Air conditioner
Stationery and office supplies
Toilet and tissue paper
Office furniture
Lighting apparatus and lamps
Uniform and working wear
Offset printing service
Hotels and inns

30. Purchasing Guidelines for Motorcars
1) The automobiles shall have high fuel efficiency and low carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
2) The automobiles shall have low levels of nitrogen oxides (NOx), hydrocarbons (HC), carbon monoxide (CO), and particulate matter (PM) in their emissions.
3) The automobiles shall use coolants for air conditioning that have a little contributory impact on ozone layer depletion and global warming.
4) The automobiles shall use reduced levels of lead.
5) The automobiles shall be designed for ease in disassembly and recycling of their parts when no longer in commission.
6) The automobiles shall use large amounts of recycled parts.
7) The automobiles shall make little external noise.

31. Features of GPN Guidelines
Guidelines for main product areas to be targeted in green purchase
Listing of the matters to be considered in selecting the products
Focus the check points to about 10 items at the most, which are important and can be differentiated. (In case of products)
The guidelines are not meant for giving the standards of “green products” but moderately suggesting the viewpoints and directions of consideration.
The guidelines provided the opportunities of obtaining the information in those fields which are not covered by eco-mark, etc.
The guidelines are used as indications by many purchasing organizations, as well as becoming the indication of product development of the manufacturers.

32. GPN Products Data Base
Provide detailed products information of designated environmental aspects, certification of eco-labelling, conformity to the Law criteria, retail price, major functions
Not certificate/recommend specific products
Information on more than 9,000 products of 13 products categories, 600 companies
Updated quarterly
Purchasers can compare products of many producers from environmental point of view
Users can get almost all the main products of major producers in Japanese market

33. Accumulation of GPN Data Base
Accumulate the data base in accordance with the information format set out alongside the guidelines of purchase
Broadly encourage relative manufacturers to provide information
Manufacturers wishing to provide information shall make the registration and input their data through the Internet
The secretariat checks the data and makes them public
The expenses are borne by the manufacturers as publication fees

34. GPN Data Base

35. ＧＰＮデータベース活用ガイド

36. Current Status and Features of GPN Data Base
Provide useful information for actual purchasing such as detailed environmental information, acquisition of environmental labels, conformity with standards of the Law on Promoting Green Purchasing, price, major functions, etc.
Product information of various businesses can be compared horizontally.
Information is available for almost all major products of major manufacturers
Do not recommend specific products
Overall judgement on superiority of products is left to the purchasers.
About 9,000 products of 600 companies in 13 product fields are included in the data base.
Renewals of data are made 4 times a year with biannual publication of the “Data Book”.

37. Information for Green Purchasing
Availability
of Detailed
Information
Easiness of
Judgment
TypeⅠ
Eco-Labelling
Grading System
GPN Data Base
Type Ⅲ Environmental Labelling

38. Guideline & Data Base on Suppliers
GPN start to develop a guideline on selecting suppliers based on the Principle 3.
The guideline will include EMS, waste reduction, information disclosure,……
GPN will launch a suppliers data base targeting all types of businesses

39. Conclusions
Green purchasing is a very effective market-oriented tool to make green supply chain
Public sectors should take the Initiatives
In Japan GPN has succeeded in creating tendency toward implementing green purchasing
We need global collaboration to expand green purchasing and green market
Exchange information and experiences
Support to launch green purchasing activities
Build a global Data Base on products traded internationally and suppliers

40. Factors that have Supported Successful Diffusion of Green Purchasing in Japan
Green Purchasing Network (GPN) has succeeded in wide-range involvement of businesses and administrative organizations in the move.
Major businesses representing Japan and local governments became the promoters of the campaign.
The Environmental Agency backed up the establishment and activities of GPN.
Success stories were introduced by the commendation system and seminars.
A network was successfully established for the first time, with the involvement of businesses, administration and NGOs as equal parties of purchasers.
A social climate was successfully formed making “green purchasing” another basic environmental activity same as “recycling” and “energy saving”.
There has been an active and wide-spread exchange of environmental information on products. (GPN data base, eco-mark, corporate brochures on eco-products, etc.)
The social zeal for ISO certification has become the favorable wind.
The movement was dramatically accelerated by the establishment and enforcement of the Law on Promoting Green Purchasing.

41. Incentives to Green Purchasing
By implementing green purchasing, the positive stance of businesses toward environmental issues can be demonstrated to the public.
Green purchasing has become one of the obligatory items for environmental reports.
Awareness of the employees can be enhanced through green purchasing.
It gives constructive impact on product development, sales, recycling and other environmental activities.
Reviewing of purchase practices, reduction of purchase quantities, etc. may bring cost reduction effects.
Reduction of life cycle cost (LCC) can also be expected.

42. International Network
GPN (Japan)
Korean GPN
GPN Malaysia
European GPN
North American Green Purchasing Initiative
ICLEI (International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives)
United Nations
World Bank
APO (Asian Productivity Organization)

43. Thank you very much for your attention.
If you are interested in the GPN and this presentation, please contact me and/or visit our websites at [
Thank you very much for your attention.
Hiroyuki Sato, GPN