Navigating Sustainability in 2025: Public Procurement, Contracts, and Investment

Public Procurement and Private Contracts

A big area for businesses to consider with regards to sustainability is procurement and tendering. More and more countries are instituting green public procurement policies. Ireland has put in place their Green Public Procurement Plan 2024-2027 which will apply to all public tenders moving forward. This means that up to 10% of points for all public tenders will be going towards ESG or sustainability criteria. To learn more about the specifics of Ireland’s procurement plan, check out our blog here.

The UK has also released a similar policy that relates to socially responsible public procurement. Contracts above £123,000 will include a minimum of 10% of points allocated to ESG or sustainability criteria. So again, if you’re based in Ireland, exporting to the UK, it is absolutely integral to understand your sustainability journey and be able to share information for tender applications.

The EU itself has released green public pro curement guidelines that many member states have used to implement their own policies, as is the case with Ireland. Because of this, if you are applying for public tenders anywhere in Europe, you very well may be required to provide sustainability information in order to complete the response document. If tenders in Ireland, the UK, or anywhere else are in your 2025 business plan, sustainability considerations will be key to your success.

If you are renewing your contract or negotiating new opportunities within the private sector, you will still likely see sustainability considerations arise. This is because these businesses are taking some of the green public procurement guidelines and pulling them into their own procurement strategies. When a private entity has their own sustainability goals, their value chain will be a key partner in achieving their targets. Because of this, sustainability considerations will be key to contract negotiations. By proving you can share sustainability information and even take action yourself to reduce negative impacts, you will become an ideal partner for these organisations.

Regardless of whether you are applying for a public tender or are negotiating a private contract, some of the key pieces of information you will want to have available are:

Sustainability roadmap
Energy use
Social impact and community engagement
Ethical business practices
Water use
Waste output
Employee wellbeing and compensation

The ENSO platform can help you to easily identify and track key sustainability matters for your business. With this information plus supporting documentation, you will easily be able to communicate your sustainability strategy for tenders and new or renewed contracts.

Investment and Financing Considerations

If you are a start up or scaling business that wants to expand and take the next step on your business journey, you may be considering raising investment. Sustainability is a huge part of due diligence for investors. Investors are under pressure from their own funders to have sustainable and ESG compliant portfolios and there is a shift now towards responsible investing and green investing. If you’re able to communicate your sustainability journey to prospective investors, you can take advantage of this shift. Consider the same key pieces of information listed in the previous section to be ready for investor requests as well as contract renewals and tendering opportunities.

This also extends to loans and other financial packages. Many banks, including AIB, have released commitments to provide specified amounts of financing to green or sustainable projects, businesses, and innovations. This is a huge opportunity to get loans or get financing at a discounted rate, all while doing the right thing. Using the same information you share with investors, you will be able to gain access to these green lending schemes.

We discuss investor sentiment, tenders and contracts, and more in this episode of our podcast.

You can also listen to our podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Conclusion

By getting all of your sustainability information together and having supporting documentation, you will be prepared for multiple different opportunities that can grow your business in 2025. This means that the work you put in for one contract or investment opportunity will help you be ready for subsequent requests for sustainability information. For example, if you have your data and documentation ready for an investor, you will likely be more prepared for any CSRD information requests, as discussed in the first blog of our Navigating Sustainability in 2025 series.

We continue highlighting these connections and how you can take advantage in the next installments of our Navigating Sustainability in 2025 blog series: Sharing Sustainability With Your Customers, and Top Tips for Sustainability Preparation.