The European Commission has proposed that public authorities be forced to consider the environmental performance of vehicles they want to buy or lease when offering transport procurement contracts out to tender.

At present, national, regional and local governments can ignore the comparative performance regarding vehicle emissions of various models or transport services on offer, focusing on cost and efficiency.

But under a revised proposed procurement directive from the commission, such green considerations would immediately become optional, and then compulsory from 2012.

“When procuring vehicles, public authorities will use lifetime costs for CO2 and pollutant emissions as well as for fuel consumption as award criteria,” said a Commission statement.