ABSTRACT
Eco-labels are one of the voluntary tools considered by the EU for advancing the implementation of sustainable public procurement. Life-cycle thinking was introduced by the 2014/24/EU Directive as part of a wider endeavor to make sustainable procurement a strategic objective of public procurement. Public Procurement Directives prefer to refer to the life cycle of products, services and works and, more specifically and narrowly, to specific tools associated with Life-cycle thinking (LCT). However, life-cycle costing is only one element of LCT in public procurement alternative routes such as the use of labels and technical specifications might be more effective in view of sustainability. To end on an optimistic note, reader believe that in the context of sustainable public procurement, LCT has the potential to become a very important element in the enterprise of shifting the paradigm beyond the confinement of the sole purchase price of a product.
