New product category of green room air conditioners launched on Government e-Marketplace (GeM) to mark the World Environment Day
On the occasion of World Environment Day, a new product category of Green Room Air Conditioners was launched on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM). The Secretary, Department of Commerce, Anup Wadhavan launched it.
“Public procurement spend in India is nearly 15-20% of its GDP. Introducing SPP to this huge quantum of government procurement will further complement the country’s climate policy objectives. The addition of Green Room Air Conditioners on GeM is another example of GeM being a futuristic and technology driven platform, focusing on environmental, social and economic pillars of sustainable public procurement,” noted Wadhavan.
The GeM portal will enable and encourage all central and state government agencies to buy efficient and environment friendly green ACs, thereby paving a way for Sustainable Public Procurement in India. The purchase of Green RACs shall be a voluntary approach.
Last year, the GeM portal saw sales of over 44,000 air conditioners worth Rs 1.7 billion, and it continues to grow. Additionally, public procurement spend in India is estimated to be 15-20 per cent of its GDP. Leveraging the procurement power and promoting sustainable public procurement that align with India’s climate policies and priorities would play a key role in achieving India’s Nationally Determined Contributions and its commitment towards relevant SDGs particularly SDG 12.7. Green Room Air Conditioner integration within the public procurement system is a catalyst for market transformation towards sustainable cooling.
“Public procurement most of the times moves the market towards better efficiency. There is an enormous demand for air conditioners in government offices and departments and led by such demands, with awareness outreach campaigns, we as public policy proponents have a massive opportunity to transform the market. This is what has inspired EESL to start with a super-efficient AC programme, and we would be happy to partner with GeM to move this movement towards super efficiency,” noted Saurabh Kumar, Executive Vice Chairperson, EESL Group.
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in collaboration with other partners is supporting the Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) initiative of the Government of India with initial focus on three prioritized product categories including paper, disinfectant and Green Room Air Conditioners.
P K Singh, CEO, GeM, said, “We have Gross Merchandise Value of about 15 billion dollars, with a little under 2 million sellers, and 52,000 government agencies, as buyers, and that is why it not only becomes critical but also urgent for GeM to facilitate the use of sustainable and eco-friendly procurement practices.”
