Client leadership in sustainability: how the dutch railway agency created CO2 awareness in the industry

Sustainability is high on the policy agenda of the public sector in many countries. Since the Copenhagen Conference, the Netherlands has been implementing policies to support the 20/2020 carbon dioxide reduction agenda. Sustainable procurement is now obligatory for all public clients. The standard approach is to develop criteria and measures to assess the sustainability of products or offers. These are then weighted in a “most economically advantageous tender” selection procedure. In the Netherlands, a wide array of criteria guides are being developed for several product groups and practitioners criticise the bureaucracy involved. Meanwhile, ProRail (the Dutch railway agency) has followed a different approach. They have developed a CO2 performance ladder comprising six steps. Contractors can have their CO2 emission awareness and reduction policies assessed and certified. The more conscious and consistently the contractor works on CO2 reduction, the higher the contractor climbs the CO2 ladder. This will provide the contractor with clear benefits in the tendering procedure: a fictitious mark-down of up to ten per cent in the bid price (an award advantage). Although only in use since December 2009 the effects of this CO2 ladder are remarkable. This paper documents the rapid adoption of this scheme, explores the strategy and the mechanics at work, and discusses the value and impact of the scheme in a context of client leadership.