Climate/environment

As a public procurement authority, DALO has a responsibility to assess and, where possible, incorporate climate and environmental considerations into our acquisitions. We aim to contribute to the achievement of the political objectives in the climate and environment area, such as the Danish Climate Act. The ongoing deterioration of our climate and environment is a serious threat, which DALO must take into account in our procurement, alongside security of supply and resilience.

The Ministry of Defence Procurement Policy stipulates that environmental and energy considerations must be taken into account on an equal footing with other parameters such as quality, price, user needs, operational requirements and interoperability. DALO therefore takes a systematic approach to climate and environmental considerations in procurement. This means that we have determined which types of acquisitions are covered by our climate and environment measures, i.e. which acquisitions will be assessed in terms of their climate and environmental potential.

At the same time, it is essential that the necessary equipment and services are procured at the right quality and at the right time. This is an important and necessary prerequisite for our work on climate and the environment.

DALO carries out a large number of different procurements each year, and we have thus chosen to concentrate our climate and environmental efforts on the acquisitions where we see the greatest potential. Therefore, climate and environmental requirements are not included in all our procurements, nor is a specific climate and environmental assessment carried out for all types of procurement. The value of the acquisition plays a role in this connection, as does, for example, the urgency of the purchase. The full process for how we work with climate and the environment in our procurements is described below, but for certain types of procurement it will be scaled down based on our risk assessment. This means that some phases are either not carried out at all or only carried out in part.

Overall, the climate and environmental work in our procurement process consists of the following phases:

Climate/environment assessment – before signing

When DALO starts a procurement process which falls within the scope of our climate and environmental measures, we assess the potential for climate and environmental measures and, on that basis, decide on the further process. Where a potential is identified, we will, where possible, conduct an assessment of the market, and include climate and environmental requirements in the contract. You can read more about the requirements we set in the sections ‘What types of climate and environmental requirements does DALO set?’ and ‘Which climate and environmental requirements can you expect to encounter as a supplier?’ below.

If you are involved in market assessment for a procurement, e.g. via dialogue or a request for information, it is important that you provide genuine and comprehensive feedback on what climate and environmental requirements your company is able to meet.

Follow-up – after signing

Once a contract containing climate and environmental requirements has entered into force, we follow up on whether our suppliers are complying with the climate and environmental requirements. This is done using a risksegmented approach, so that resources are used where they are considered most appropriate and where we see the greatest risk. As a supplier, you should therefore expect us to ask you, on an ongoing basis during the contract period, how you are meeting the climate and environmental requirements set out in your agreement.

DALO’s procurements vary considerably, so our climate and environmental requirements are tailored to the specific procurement and the related circumstances. The requirements are based on our assessment of the climate and environmental potential – i.e. an assessment of whether genuine improvements can realistically be achieved or promoted given the available practical and technological options, the procurement and supply situation, and other relevant factors. The potential for climate and environmental improvements may lie at different stages of a product or service’s life cycle. For some procurements, the greatest impact may arise from the extraction of raw materials or the production of goods, while for others it may arise during use or at the end of life.

Based on our assessment of the potential, our experience with climate and environmental requirements in other procurements, and our general knowledge of the market, we conduct a market assessment where possible. The purpose is to gain insight into potential suppliers’ existing climate and environmental work in the relevant areas, as well as the possibility and cost of achieving the intended climate and environmental improvements.

The requirements we set may be minimum requirements, contractual requirements, evaluation requirements or innovation requirements. We select the type of requirement based on a materiality assessment of a given acquisition’s potential, the extent to which potential suppliers are expected to be able to meet the requirements, and how clearly the requirements can be defined and verified. In some cases, requirements are applicable at a later stage of the contract period, because meeting them may require a longer term effort on the supplier’s part.

To make it easier for our current and future suppliers to meet our climate and environmental requirements, we are working to develop standardised requirements for areas that recur across DALO’s procurements. This includes, for example, requirements for the packaging used for deliveries to DALO.

When developing climate and environmental requirements, we take a value-chain perspective, always keeping in view the need to move towards a more circular economy. This means that certain general principles are relevant to most acquisitions and the climate and environmental requirements associated with them. We work based on a materiality assessment, focusing on aspects that account for a significant share of the overall impact or present a particular sustainability challenge.

• Raw materials: Many raw materials can be associated with serious climate and environmental challenges – both for finite materials (such as metals) in extraction processes and for renewable materials (such as wood) in cultivation and harvesting processes. Where raw materials are of material importance to a procurement, i.e. where a procurement involves large quantities of one type of raw material or involves materials that have particularly high impacts during cultivation or extraction, we will therefore consider requirements for raw materials, including the use of recycled materials such as recycled metal or plastic.
  
  
• Production processes: The production of goods can involve significant resource usage as well as emissions of greenhouse gases and other forms of pollution. Production processes can therefore have a major impact on the overall climate and environmental footprint of a procurement. We will therefore consider requirements for production processes where they have a material impact on the climate and environmental footprint of the procurement, e.g. requirements to limit emissions to air and water or to reduce waste and material losses in production.
  
  
• Use and end-of-life: A large part of the overall climate and environmental footprint of a procurement can in many cases be reduced if products last longer and can be maintained, repaired, reused or recycled to a greater extent. It is therefore important to consider at the time of procurement how products can retain their value for as long as possible and enter new cycles after use. We will therefore consider requirements for lifetime and end-of-use where this has a material impact on the climate and environmental footprint of the procurement, including, for example, requirements for longer service life, warranty periods, access to spare parts and updates, possibilities for maintenance and repair, availability of manuals and other relevant information, as well as design for disassembly.
  
  
• Energy: Energy consumption can affect the climate and environmental footprint both in connection with the production of a product and its use. In the production process, the choice of energy source will affect greenhouse gas emissions, while energy consumption during use can account for a significant share of the overall impact, for example for IT equipment or transport. For transport, it may be relevant, for example, to consider energy consumption and fuel type across modes such as road vehicles, ships and aircraft. We will therefore consider requirements for energy consumption where it has a material impact on the climate and environmental footprint of the procurement, including requirements that promote the use of renewable energy in production and energy-efficient solutions with low energy consumption during usage.
  
  
• Chemicals: Chemical substances are used in many products and production processes and may, depending on their properties and use, be harmful to both people and the environment. There is particular potential to reduce environmental and health impacts by limiting substances with, for example, endocrine-disrupting, carcinogenic or environmentally harmful properties, which may occur in textiles, cleaning products, paint or electronics. We will therefore consider requirements for chemicals where they have a material impact on the environmental and health footprint of the procurement, including requirements that limit the use of chemicals with harmful properties and, where possible, avoid the use of such substances altogether.
  
  
• Certifications and documentation: To ensure that goods and services actually meet our climate and environmental requirements, we may also require third-party verified certifications and documentation. This could, for example, include ecolabels verifying that a particular product consists of recycled material or organically grown raw material, or third-party documentation confirming that a supplier has used renewable energy during production. It could also include certification that a supplier operates under an environmental or energy management system, helping to maintain a focus on climate and environmental impacts.