JFS Newsletter No.20 (April 2004)
http://www.japanfs.org/en/mailmagazine/newsletter/pages/027779.html

Green purchasing and procurement have flourished over the past few years in Japan, as demand grows for products that have less environmental impact and buyers preferentially choose environmentally sound products and services.

The Green Purchasing Law enacted in April 2000 requires the public sector, including the national government, to promote procurement of products and services that contribute to reducing the negative impact on the environment. This law only asks local municipalities to make an effort to support green purchasing, but actually, many local authorities are already promoting green purchasing and procurement on their own by establishing their own standards.

See here for the results of survey of local municipalities to determine their commitment to green purchasing.
Green Procurement by Local Governments Surveyed

Shown at this link are the activities of companies and other institutions.
"Green Purchasing" Grows in Japan

The December 2002 issue of the JFS Newsletter introduced efforts among municipalities and companies, in an article on "Green purchasing and green procurement in motion."
http://www.japanfs.org/en/mailmagazine/newsletter/pages/027751.html

The Green Purchasing Law obliges national governmental bodies to formulate green procurement policies, to promote procurement of products based on the policies, and to compile records of their purchasing and disclose this information publicly. Japan's Ministry of the Environment (MOE) issued a report on green procurement in fiscal 2002. "National Government Achieves 95% Green Purchasing in FY 2002 for Most Goods"
National Government Achieves 95% Green Purchasing in FY 2002 for Most Goods

In March 2004, the basic policy of the Green Purchasing Law was revised with the addition of 23 designated items. The newly designated items under the current version are the products made of plant-derived plastics, energy saving water heating systems, CFC-free refrigerators, and car maintenance using recycled parts. The revised policy's aim is to reinforce the procurement achievements of items already on the list, and to extend and expand green purchasing by adding new items.

The economic activities by the government and municipalities, accounting for as much as a quarter of all economic activity in Japan, have a great influence over other players in the economy. By taking the initiative in promoting green purchasing, governments are expected to transform the demand and have a tremendous ripple effect on the market.

Aside from the positive effects of legislation mentioned above, Japan's green procurement and purchasing activities have been strongly promoted by the Green Purchasing Network (GPN). The GPN was established in February 1996, by companies, governmental organizations and consumer groups that are interested in the issue.
http://www.gpn.jp/
(Please click on "English" button at the top right.)

Governmental and corporate green purchasing efforts have evolved with time. While paper products and office stationery were easier for them to start with at the initial stage, the efforts have expanded into green procurement of parts and raw materials, and green delivery. For example:

"Kobe City to Introduce 'Green Delivery' Requirements"

Some of the more progressive companies have started on efforts to green the entire supply chain, both upstream and downstream, in addition to greening their own products. Others have placed an additional goal of raising awareness of consumers to their efforts. The Shiga Bank is one example.

"Shiga Bank Makes Novelty Goods Green"

The 8th Questionnaire Survey conducted by the GPN in 2003 shows the organizations that take their suppliers' efforts for the environment into account when they purchase products dramatically increased to 63 percent, from 39 percent in 2002. According to the 7th Questionnaire Survey Results in 2002, besides acquiring ISO 14001 certification, more than half of the respondents are tackling green purchasing as one of the criteria to evaluate their operations, trying to green the entire supply chain by asking their suppliers to implement green purchasing as well.

The GPN posts the guidelines for green purchasing on its website for companies and local governments that plan to implement green purchasing.
http://eco.goo.ne.jp/gpn/index.html (Japanese only)

The guidelines explain the flow of implementing green purchasing and identify the following points to consider for systematic green purchasing practices:

-setting up objectives
-creating systems
-deciding the way to select products
-cooperating with business customers
-raising employees' awareness
-reviewing activities

They also identify the following points for companies that are ready to get
a quick start with green purchasing:

-starting with products easier to deal with
-setting standards based on easy-to-understand information
-expanding the efforts from one division
-sizing up the results and reviewing experience

Shiga Green Purchasing Network, a local network of the GPN offers a "Self-Check System for Green Purchasing" on its website.
http://www.shigagpn.gr.jp/green/explan/index.html (Japanese only)

This system is for organizations checking the progress of green purchasing by themselves. The system allows organizations to monitor progress by reviewing their own efforts periodically and gives guidelines for setting up new objectives. It also helps organizations to compare their efforts with others.

As shown here, green purchasing movements by the government, municipalities, and companies have grown quickly and are still expanding. In the future, JFS would like to follow not only the expansion in the number of items covered by green purchasing and in the procurement rates, but also trends in multinational enterprises in terms of activities taken system-wide, including offices overseas, and the greening of the entire supply chain, including overseas suppliers.

On the other hand, the need to raise awareness among consumers and to strengthen efforts has become increasingly important. No matter how far companies go to create eco-friendly products, environmental impacts will not be reduced unless consumers purchase these products, nor will there be support for the company's resolve and investments to continue manufacturing eco-friendly products.

Professor Ryoichi Yamamoto of Tokyo University, also a director of Japan for Sustainability, says that, "the share of low-emission vehicles among all the cars sold by Toyota is a mere 1.4 percent. The sales ratio of zero-energy houses (which incorporate solar power generation systems) is only 0.5 percent of the total houses sold by Misawa Homes [a major home builder], and the ratio of eco-friendly products as a part of total turnover at Seiyu [a major grocery store chain] is only 2 percent. The great challenge is how to elevate these ratios."

Green purchasing in Japan appears to be on the verge of making a major leap forward, from the self-contained efforts inside individual companies and organizations, to approaches that promote greening of all the players, making links between supply chains and the consumers and across national boundaries.

On October 6 and 7, 2004, the 1st International Conference on Green Purchasing will be held in Sendai, located in northern Japan. This is the first international conference on green purchasing, and one of its aims is to send out a message from Japan, suggesting international guidelines on green purchasing, such as through the "Green Purchasing Sendai Declaration."

Another aim of the conference is to introduce others to the efforts in Japan, a leading country in this area of green purchasing, and to mutually share the latest information and experiences on this subject, so as to build an international network among parties concerned with green purchasing. There are plans to announce the "Sendai Citizen's Charter of Conduct," of basic principles to encourage citizen's action on green purchasing.

The details of the 1st International Conference on Green Purchasing in Sendai are shown here.
http://www.city.sendai.jp/kankyou/kanri/icgps-e/index.html

It is hoped that this conference will further strengthen efforts in Japan, and serve as a platform for sending out a message that will give impetus to green purchasing in countries around the world.