Sustainable procurement, sustainable procurement or green purchasing is an investment and spending process typically associated with the public sector, although it is equally applicable to the private sector.

Organizations that practice sustainable procurement manage to satisfy their needs for goods, services and works, not through a cost-benefit analysis limited to themselves, but with a vision of maximizing net benefits for themselves and the rest of the world.

In doing so, they must incorporate external cost considerations into their purchasing decisions, alongside conventional procurement criteria (price and quality). These considerations are usually divided as follows: environmental, economic and social (also known as the "triple bottom line").

There is no single definition of sustainable purchasing – not least because sustainability is a controversial concept – and applications vary across organizational and industry hierarchy.

Public Sector

In the public sector it is also known by its English name Green Public Procurement (GPP).

In central government, sustainable procurement is typically seen as applying sustainable development criteria to spending and investment decisions. Taking into account issues of high social, economic and environmental impact, such as globalization, climate change and nuclear energy, governments are increasingly concerned that their actions meet the needs of the present without compromising the needs of the future.

The United Kingdom in 2005 committed to being a leader in sustainable procurement practices in 2009 and commissioned the business management firm's Sustainable Procurement Task Force to formulate the appropriate strategy. Broad-based procurement strategies feature prominently across the European Union, while it is an increasingly influential concern elsewhere, notably in Canada.

At the market level, sustainable procurement is typically instrumental: authorities try to address policy through procurement.[4]​.

Government departments and local entities can use green procurement to purchase solutions that contribute to community or environmental objectives, or for diversity or equality objectives.