On 9 December, PVthin, together with other key solar industry organisations, signed a joint letter to Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius and DG ENV Director-General Florika Fink-Hooijer. The initiative, led by SolarPower Europe, aims to highlight the need for EU-wide green public procurement rules for photovoltaics.
The signatories regret to observe that Green Public Procurement (GPP) has been sidelined from the ongoing Ecodesign and Energy Label policy discussion and at present does not seem a political priority for the EU Commission. This is clearly at odds with the EU sustainability ambitions and its industrial strategy.
GPP is a key instrument to strengthen the business case for EU-based PV manufacturing. Furthermore, setting EU-wide, harmonised and standardised green procurement criteria would also allow private buyers to make more informed decisions about the products they purchase.
Because of this, we call on the EU Commission to treat Green Public Procurement for solar PV products as a high priority and to fast-track the establishment of such criteria to support a sustainable and future-proof deployment of solar energy and a thriving EU industry.
» Read and download the complete open letter on solarpowereurope.org.