After four intense years of research, collaboration, and fieldwork across several European cities, I am proud to share that I have successfully defended my PhD thesis at the Faculty of Public Administration, Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. This work was also part of my fellowship in the SAPIENS Network, a consortium funded by the Horizon 2020 programme to explore the future of sustainable public procurement.

My research explored a fundamental question:
Can public procurement truly drive sustainability in the construction of public buildings — not just in theory, but in real, measurable outcomes?

In other words: how are different contracting authorities developing and applying voluntary sustainability criteria across the entire life cycle of construction works, and how can this process contribute to broader goals like the EU Green Deal, the Renovation Wave, and SDGs 9 and 11?

The construction and operation of buildings account for almost 40% of energy use and 36% of CO₂ emissions in the EU. Yet the pace of renovation and adoption of advanced energy standards such as nearly Zero-Energy Buildings (nZEB) remains far too slow — particularly in Eastern Europe.

Public procurement should be one of our strongest levers to change this reality. After all, the public sector commands significant demand and purchasing power — and it is legally obliged to lead by example under the Energy Efficiency Directive and the revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive.

But in practice, as I found throughout my research, there is a wide gap between policy intentions and ground-level implementation.

I used an interdisciplinary, multi-method approach: legal and policy analysis, interviews, stakeholder surveys, and comparative case studies in five Eastern European cities (Riga, Budapest, Cluj-Napoca, Bucharest-Sector 2, Alba Iulia).

Here is what I found:

👉 Stakeholder knowledge is uneven. In Romania, 71% of developers surveyed knew the nZEB concept; only 5% of public procurers had any in-depth understanding of it. Without technical understanding, even the most well-meaning procurers cannot write ambitious tenders.

👉 Legislation alone is not enough. GPP remains voluntary — and in Romania and many other Eastern European countries, this translates to inconsistent and fragmented adoption. Clear and enforceable criteria are lacking, and procurement processes often default to lowest-price approaches.

👉 Market failures persist. Developers cited high upfront costs, limited access to green technologies, and insufficient demand signals from the public sector. Procurement tends to be reactive rather than strategic, missing opportunities to drive innovation.

👉 Data gaps are crippling. Without standardized, comparable data on building energy performance, policymakers cannot monitor progress or design effective interventions.

👉 But local innovation matters. I found inspiring examples of bottom-up solutions: Riga’s “Live Warmer” campaign, Cluj-Napoca’s use of smart city tools, Budapest’s innovative tax incentives, and pilot projects in Alba Iulia and Bucharest-Sector 2. When local actors take ownership, progress is possible.

I will be blunt: in much of Eastern Europe, voluntary action alone will not close the energy efficiency gap in public buildings. Without stronger legal mandates, robust enforcement, and targeted capacity building for procurement officers, we will keep seeing beautiful policy documents with disappointing real-world results.

I say this with the full awareness that GPP must be flexible and context-sensitive — but too often, flexibility becomes an excuse for inaction.

What we need is a new generation of smart, enforceable, and context-adapted GPP criteria, supported by:

• Mandatory reporting and performance tracking;
• Coordinated capacity-building programmes for procurement officers and technical staff;
• Integrated data systems to support decision-making;
• A stronger culture of collaboration between national and local governments, civil society, academia, and the private sector.

In my thesis, I developed a GPP criteria framework for educational buildings in Romania’s Climate Zone 3 that integrates best EU practices with local realities. I hope this serves as a useful model — and a starting point — for similar initiatives across the region.

The SAPIENS Network’s mission — to build new knowledge for sustainable public procurement — is more relevant than ever. My work confirms that procurement can be a transformative lever, not just a compliance tool. But only if we equip it with the right mix of ambition, accountability, and local ownership.

Moving forward, I hope to contribute further to this collective effort, both through research and by engaging with policymakers and practitioners. The European Green Deal’s targets are ambitious — and rightly so — but achieving them will require us to close the implementation gap in every Member State, including those where capacity and market readiness still lag behind.

Public procurement must not only follow policy — it must help shape it, bringing sustainability from abstract goals into the lived reality of our schools, hospitals, and administrative buildings.

Completing this PhD was more than an academic milestone for me — it was a journey of deep engagement with cities, communities, and the people who will ultimately make or break Europe’s sustainable building transition.

I am grateful to my supervisors, partners, and the SAPIENS community for the insights, collaboration, and constant challenge to think across disciplines.

This is only the beginning — and there is much more work to do.

— Alexandru Buftic
PhD, Babeș-Bolyai University