The Government of the Republic of Korea recognized the importance of product and service procurement as a key means of realizing national policy goals and introduced a mandatory eco-friendly product procurement scheme to public institutions in 2004 — building on an earlier eco-labelling system introduced in 1994.

The green product procurement policy fosters environmental competition among corporations for market entry and has led to strengthened environmental responsibility, improved price and quality and accelerated development of green technology.

The production scale of eco-labelled products in the Republic of Korea has also increased considerably, from $1.5 billion in 2004 to $17 billion in 2009. The products that public institutions purchased through the public procurement service from 2004 to 2009 were found to have reduced emissions by approximately 2 million tons of carbon dioxide, with economic benefits totalling some $27 million.

Source: Global Green Growth Institute.