TRANSFORMATION INTO A NEW AGE
The construction industry plays a critical role in South Africa’s economic development, infrastructure delivery and employment creation. However, it is also a significant contributor to environmental degradation, carbon emissions, resource depletion and social inequality. Sustainable procurement has emerged as a strategic mechanism through which the public and private sector can promote environmental protection, social development and economic growth while obtaining value for money.
This article examines the concept of sustainable procurement within the South African construction sector, analyses the applicable legislative and policy framework, identifies implementation challenges and proposes practical measures for enhancing sustainability outcomes in construction procurement processes.
Broadening procurement priorities
The procurement of construction works represents one of the largest areas of public and private expenditure in South Africa. Government departments, municipalities, state-owned entities and private developers collectively spend billions of rands annually on infrastructure projects.
Traditionally, procurement decisions have been driven primarily by considerations of cost, quality and time. However, increasing concerns regarding climate change, environmental sustainability, social inequality and governance failures have necessitated a broader approach to procurement.
Sustainable procurement seeks to integrate environmental, social and economic considerations into purchasing decisions throughout the life cycle of a project and not just at tender stage. In the construction context, this includes selecting environmentally responsible materials, reducing carbon emissions, promoting local economic development, encouraging labour-intensive construction methods where appropriate and ensuring ethical supply chains.
As South Africa pursues its commitments under the Paris Agreement, signed in 2016, and seeks to transition towards a more sustainable economy, sustainable procurement has become an important policy tool capable of transforming the construction industry.
About sustainable procurement
The concept of sustainable procurement extends beyond traditional notions of value for money. The internationally accepted definition developed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) describes sustainable procurement as a process whereby organisations meet their needs for goods, services, works and utilities in a manner that achieves value for money on a whole-life basis, while generating benefits not only to the organisation but also to society and the economy, and minimising environmental damage. This is achieved through improving procurement professional skills through targeted training; promoting ecolabels, life-cycle costing and evaluation criteria that account for long-term value beyond upfront costs; facilitating collaboration across government and with suppliers for early market engagement; supporting robust evidence development; and reporting to ensure measurable sustainability impact.1
In the construction sector, sustainable procurement encompasses three principles that form the backbone of working towards sustainability, namely:
Environmental sustainability considerations, which include:
• reducing greenhouse gas emissions
• promoting energy-efficient buildings
• minimising waste generation
• encouraging the use of recycled and renewable materials
• conserving water resources, and
• protecting biodiversity and ecosystems.
Social sustainability objectives, which include:
• employment creation
• skills development
• transformation and empowerment
• community participation
• health and safety improvements, and
• support for small and medium enterprises.
Economic sustainability, which focuses on:
• long-term value for money
• whole-life costing
• local industrial development, as opposed to importing, and
• supply-chain resilience over long periods of time.
The construction industry is uniquely positioned to advance all three dimensions simultaneously through strategic procurement decisions.
Our legislative and policy framework
Constitutional foundation
The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, an overarching legislation, provides the foundation for sustainable procurement. Section 24 guarantees the right to an environment that is not harmful to health or well-being and requires the state to secure ecologically sustainable development while promoting justifiable economic and social development.
Section 217 governs public procurement and requires organs of state to procure goods and services through systems that are fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost-effective. Importantly, section 217(2) permits procurement policies that advance disadvantaged persons and categories of preference. Together, these constitutional provisions create a framework within which sustainability objectives may be pursued through procurement.
Public Procurement Act and procurement reform
South Africa’s ongoing procurement reform agenda increasingly recognises the importance of strategic procurement. Modern procurement frameworks seek to move beyond lowest-cost tendering towards broader socio-economic and developmental objectives. Infrastructure procurement policies increasingly encourage, as they should, consideration of:
• local content/material requirements
• Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) upliftment programmes
• skills transfer mechanisms
• job creation pathways, and
• sustainable development outcomes.
National Environmental Management Act
The National Environmental Management Act (NEMA)2 establishes key environmental principles applicable to construction projects. These principles include:
• sustainable development that balances environmental protection, economic growth and social development
• the Polluter Pays Principle, which obliges those who cause pollution to pay for the clean-up
• a precautionary, risk-averse approach, and
• intergenerational equity by requiring natural resources to be used sustainably and responsibly.
Procurement decisions that favour environmentally responsible construction methods assist in giving effect to these principles.
Infrastructure delivery management system
The Framework for Infrastructure Delivery and Procurement Management (FIDPM)3 adopted by government institutions emphasises life-cycle planning and value optimisation. The FIDPM improves public infrastructure investment by standardising infrastructure delivery management and infrastructure procurement management.
Construction Industry Development Board
Best-practice guidelines from the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB)’s Standard for Uniformity in Construction Procurement provide mechanisms through which sustainability requirements may be incorporated into tender documentation, evaluation criteria and contract conditions.
Climate Change Act
The Climate Change Act4 came into operation on 17 March 2025 as the dominant green legislation, however, not all of its provisions are yet in force. Its purpose is to develop an effective climate-change response and transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy, as well as to promote every individual’s right to a clean environment. The Act advocates for an environment that is not harmful to health and includes the protection of the environment for present and future generations.
The Climate Change Act prevails in the event of a conflict with other legislation specifically relating to climate change. Every organ of state that exercises a power, performs a function, or is entrusted with powers or duties affected by climate change and aimed at the achievement and protection of a sustainable environment must review and, if necessary, revise, amend, coordinate and harmonise their policies, laws, measures, programmes and decisions in order to ensure that the risks of climate change impacts and associated vulnerabilities are taken into consideration.
Sustainable procurement mechanisms
Green building requirements
Employers may require compliance with recognised sustainability standards such as those developed by Green Building Council South Africa. Tender specifications may require:
energy-efficient designs
reduced operational carbon emissions demands
implementation of sustainable building materials
use of water-efficient technologies during construction and operation phases, and
planned waste minimisation strategies during the project life cycle.
Life-cycle costing
Traditional procurement often focuses on initial capital expenditure. Sustainable procurement encourages life-cycle costing, which evaluates costs over the entire life of an asset. Factors considered in life-cycle costing include energy consumption; maintenance requirements; operational efficiency; replacement costs; and end-of-life disposal. Although sustainable alternatives may require a higher up-front investment, life-cycle analysis frequently demonstrates lower overall costs.
Sustainable materials procurement
Construction projects can significantly reduce environmental impacts through the selection of sustainable materials. Examples include recycled steel, low-carbon concrete, sustainably and ethically sourced timber, recycled aggregates and locally manufactured products or materials. Material specifications can be drafted to incentivise suppliers to reduce embodied carbon while maintaining technical performance standards.
Local economic development
South African procurement policy has long sought to leverage infrastructure spending to promote economic transformation, which includes local labour utilisation, community participation, skills development programmes, procurement from local suppliers and support for emerging contractors. Such measures contribute to inclusive economic growth while strengthening local construction ecosystems.
Carbon-reduction requirements
The construction sector is responsible for substantial greenhouse gas emissions, which proactively work against sustainability goals. Procurement requirements that ensure carbon reduction may include carbon-reporting obligations, proactive emissions-reduction targets, sustainable transport plans for materials, renewable energy utilisation monitoring and reporting, and low-carbon construction methodologies. Increasingly, carbon management plans are becoming standard contractual deliverables on major infrastructure projects both locally and internationally.
Contractual implementation
FIDIC contracts
The latest editions of the FIDIC (Féderation Internationale des Ingeneurs-Conseils) suite (2017 and amendments thereof) increasingly recognise sustainability considerations. Procurement strategies can incorporate:
• environmental performance obligations
• sustainability reporting requirements
• carbon-management plans, as detailed by the latest FIDIC Carbon Management Guide, and
• resource-efficiency obligations.
Employers may include project-specific sustainability requirements within the Particular Conditions and Employer’s Requirements section.
NEC contracts
The NEC philosophy of collaboration and proactive risk management lends itself particularly well to sustainable procurement objectives. Sustainability requirements may be incorporated through:
scope obligations
key performance indicators (KPIs)
incentive mechanisms, and
performance measurement systems.
The NEC framework allows sustainability objectives to be monitored throughout project execution rather than only at tender stage.
Performance-based procurement
Rather than prescribing specific solutions, employers may define sustainability outcomes. Examples include:
maximum energy consumption thresholds
water-use reduction targets
carbon-emission limits, and
waste-diversion requirements.
This approach encourages innovation while maintaining accountability for outcomes.
Local challenges
Cost perceptions: One of the most persistent barriers is the perception that sustainable construction is more expensive. Decision-makers frequently focus on capital costs rather than life-cycle value. This often results in the rejection of sustainable alternatives that may offer significant long-term savings.
Skills shortages: Many procuring entities lack personnel with expertise in sustainability assessment, life-cycle costing and environmental performance measurement. The absence of technical capacity can hinder effective implementation.
Measurement difficulties: Environmental and social benefits are often difficult to quantify. Procurement officials may struggle to compare tenders based on sustainability criteria where objective measurement methodologies are lacking.
Regulatory fragmentation: Sustainability requirements are dispersed across multiple legislative and policy instruments. This fragmentation can create uncertainty regarding procurement obligations and evaluation methodologies.
Supply-chain constraints: Certain sustainable materials and technologies remain relatively scarce or expensive in local markets, limiting procurement options.
Emerging trends
Several developments are likely to shape the future of sustainable procurement in South African construction, which are not limited to:
ESG integration: Environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations are increasingly influencing infrastructure investment decisions and procurement requirements.
Carbon accounting: Employers are beginning to require contractors to quantify embodied and operational carbon associated with projects.
Circular economy principles: The construction sector is increasingly adopting circular economy approaches focused on reuse, recycling, resource recovery and waste reduction.
Digital technologies: Building Information Modelling (BIM), digital twins, artificial intelligence and data analytics are improving the ability of employers to measure sustainability performance throughout project life cycles.
Green finance: Financial institutions are increasingly linking infrastructure financing to sustainability performance, creating additional incentives for sustainable procurement practices.
Globalisation uptake
In May 2026 the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction published its Global Status Report5, on behalf of the UNEP. The following takeaways from the Global Status Report are key considerations to advancing the sustainable procurement cause in South Africa.
- The UNEP circularity platform shows that the buildings and construction sector is responsible for nearly 50% of global material extraction, making it the highest material footprint of any sector globally. Cement, clinker, bricks, clay, steel, aluminium, copper and similar metals account for 55% of material-related emissions. Embodied carbon emissions from buildings, which arise across the life cycle of materials, are a major source of global greenhouse gas emissions.
We should be aiming to achieve these three steps:
Avoid – the extraction and production of raw materials by galvanising a circular economy, which requires building with fewer materials through better data-driven design, while reusing buildings and recycled materials whenever feasible.
Shift – to regenerative material practices whenever possible by using ethically produced low-carbon earth- and bio-based building materials (such as sustainably sourced bricks, timber, bamboo, agricultural and forest detritus) whenever possible.
Improve – methods to radically decarbonise conventional materials such as concrete, steel and aluminium, and only use these non-renewable, carbon-intensive, extractive materials when absolutely necessary.
- Development of comprehensive strategies in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) required under the Paris Agreement presents a key opportunity to guide transformation. NDCs are a pillar of countries’ climate policies and describe the actions governments are committed to take towards achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement. Analysing NDCs enables the monitoring of national policy efforts to decarbonise buildings and construction.
- The implementation of building energy codes, which are regulatory instruments that set minimum requirements for the design, construction and retrofitting of buildings – covering aspects such as insulation, air sealing, windows, heating, cooling and ventilation systems efficiency, lighting and on-site renewables. When aligned with zero‑emissions building (ZEB) requirements, the codes help reduce energy demand and improve the energy performance of new and existing buildings, thereby contributing to lower building-related emissions.
- A green building certification is a third-party verification process that is important to achieving sustainability goals, and evaluates whether a building meets defined environmental performance standards across its design, construction and operation.
- Global investment in building energy efficiency has increased steadily over the past decade, accumulating to USD 2.3 trillion between 2015 and 2024. This represents less than two thirds of the needed target for the period.
Conclusion
Sustainable procurement represents a powerful mechanism for transforming the South African construction sector. By integrating environmental protection, social development and economic efficiency into procurement decisions, employers can deliver infrastructure that provides long-term value while supporting national sustainability objectives.
Although significant implementation challenges remain, growing regulatory focus, technological innovation, ESG-driven investment and international best practice are creating momentum for change. As infrastructure spending continues to play a central role in South Africa’s development agenda, sustainable procurement is likely to become an increasingly important determinant of project success.
The future of construction procurement will not be measured solely by whether projects are delivered on time and within budget, but also by their contribution to environmental resilience, social inclusion and sustainable economic growth. Sustainable procurement provides the framework through which these broader objectives can be achieved while maintaining the fundamental principles of fairness, competitiveness, transparency and value for money that underpin South African procurement law.
