This program helps municipalities and central purchasing bodies implement circular solutions and logistics optimisation in procurement. Our thematic areas are ICT, transport, and construction.
Financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers
NPCP is funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers.
DFØ (Norway) is leading the program, in partnership with Upphandlingsmyndigheten (Sweden) and SKI (Denmark).
Why public procurement?
Public buyers are among the largest customers in many Nordic markets, with public procurement making up around 15 per cent of regional GDP. That scale creates two opportunities. First, the public sector can use its market power to make circular business models commercially viable for suppliers. Second, because procurement is such a large share of public spending, doing it well is also a direct way to cut costs.
Our goals
- Reduce resource use through circular procurement
- Cut emissions and heavy goods traffic from public deliveries
- Lower costs for municipalities
Our method: working closely with the practitioners
We build everything around the people who actually run procurements. Rather than handing municipalities a finished model, we start from the barriers they meet in practice and design our work around them. At the same time, we offer participants 1-on-1 mentoring and participation in networks to help them succeed. When a concept is proven to work, we share the best practices accross the Nordics.
Apply for funding for projects on circular procurement and logistics
As part of the programme, we have established The Innovation Fund for Circular Solutions. The scheme aims to support municipalities in testing and scaling circular solutions that can reduce emissions and costs related to procurement. Municipalities can apply for 100,000-750,000 kroner per project. The NPCP will provide close follow-up from our networks and innovation experts, to maximize the chances of successful implementation beyond the pilot-phase.
Read about innovation projects we financed in our first program period
Bærum, Oslo, and Drammen are addressing transport challenges by improving data integration and reducing manual processes. Their collaboration aims to implement efficient, sustainable strategies to cut emissions, showcasing the power of cross-sector cooperation for a greener future.
Asker Municipality, in collaboration with14 other municipalities, is developing a digital reuse platform to streamline material reuse and reduce waste. Running through 2024, the project aims to automate processes and increase sustainability by making it easier for employees to report needs and share surplus items across municipalities.
NAV Assistive Technology Centre Agder has undertaken significant measures to enhance the sustainability of its transport and logistics operations. By focusing on groupage and efficient coordination, the Centre aims to better utilise available transport capacity, thereby reducing emissions and operational costs.
In an effort to improve urban logistics and sustainability, the City of Stockholm has partnered with Menigo Foodservice AB to pilot off-peak delivery of food supplies to schools, preschools, and care homes. This initiative, set for Q1 and Q2 of 2024, aims to test and verify the feasibility and benefits of scheduling deliveries outside traditional hours.
Join our networks for ambitious buyers!
The program brings together key procurement actors from Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Norway – from local to national and Nordic levels. Together, these organizations represent significant market power and can drive real change through public demand.
We have established two networks, forming the basis of the program. The networks cover sectors with a high potential for reducing the environmental footprint, developing Nordic markets, and cutting public spending. These networks meet 2–3 times a year.
The target group are ambitious procurers, primarily from municipalities and central purchasing bodies.
If you are interested in joining a network, send us an email.
| Name | Role | |
|---|---|---|
| Sindre Haakonsen | Program Leader | [email protected] |
| Dorthea Almklov | Program Coordinator | [email protected] |
| Joakim Thornéus | ICT Network Leader | [email protected] |
| Ana Delmas | Digital Product Passports | [email protected] |
| Odd Olaf Schei | ZED (logistics) Network Leader | [email protected] |
| Eva Dirdal | Green Procurement Analyzer leader | [email protected] |
| William Biørnstad | Procurement Behaviour Leader | [email protected] |
What you can expect from the networks
With new circular initiatives from the EU and national governments, it’s essential to combine top-down policies with bottom-up action. In our networks, we design activities based on the needs of participating organizations – identifying shared barriers and developing practical solutions together.
Key activities in the networks include the following:
Meetings 2–3 times per year
The networks meet twice a year. Next meetings are scheduled in October/November 2026.
Send us an email if you have any questions about network meetings. You find our contact information on the bottom of this page.
Market dialogues and criteria development
We regularly invite key suppliers to network meetings to explore new ideas and co-develop criteria for circular products and services.
Collaboration on innovation projects (pilots)
Each network will fund and support projects among its members. Network meetings will serve as arenas to share lessons learned, collaborate on solutions, and plan how to move from pilots to long-term implementation and scaling.
Implementation in real procurement
We focus on turning ambition into action by supporting real implementation in procurements. All activities in the programme are designed to ensure solutions are not only tested, but scaled and embedded in practice across the Nordics.
New data tools
In the networks, we will develop practical tools – such as impact calculators – to support circular procurement in practice.
You are free to explore the impact calculators we developed in the first project period, on ICT and furniture. On the website below, you find translations to English, Danish, Finish and Swedish.
Undersøk hvordan forskjellige tiltak påvirker CO2-utslipp og kostnadsbesparelser for IKT-utstyr i din virksomhet.
Undersøk hvordan forskjellige tiltak påvirker CO2-utslipp og kostnadsbesparelser for møbler i din virksomhet.
Cross-cutting projects
In addition to the sector-specific activities, we also run three cross-cutting initiatives:
- An AI in procurement initiative, named the Green Procurement Analyzer.
- Procurement behavior (research and tools to maximize the uptake of circular solutions).
- Digital product passports, a concept study focusing on batteries
These projects help us test new approaches and create tools that can be used across all sectors.
Results from the first program period
In June 2025, we concluded the first phase of our Nordic collaboration. Here are some of the key results:
- New impact calculators for ICT and furniture. These are practical tools for public organizations to measure emission and cost savings from buying second-hand, extending product lifetimes, or reducing consumption.
- Testing how to optimize logistics to reduce costs and emissions, with cases in Stockholm, Bærum, and NAV Agder.
- Funding of an innovative procurement between Asker and Loopfront, with the development of a marketplace for second-hand products.
- Development and testing of criteria for circular ICT, that have been implemented within 180+ public organisations in the Nordics.