The Minimum Environmental Criteria (CAM) are the environmental requirements defined for the various stages of the purchasing process, aimed at identifying the best design solution, product or service from an environmental point of view along the life cycle, taking into account market availability.
CAMs are defined within the framework of what is established by the Plan for the Environmental Sustainability of Consumption in the Public Administration Sector and are adopted by Decree of the Minister of the Environment of Land and Sea Protection.
Their systematic and homogeneous application enables the dissemination of environmentally preferable technologies and products and produces a leverage effect on the market, inducing less virtuous economic operators to adapt to the new demands of public administration.
In Italy, the effectiveness of CAM was ensured thanks to Art. 18 of Law 221/2015 and, subsequently, Art. 34 bearing "Energy and environmental sustainability criteria" of Legislative Decree 50/2016 "Procurement Code" (amended by Legislative Decree 56/2017), which made its application mandatory by all contracting stations.
This obligation ensures that the national green public procurement policy is incisive not only in the goal of reducing environmental impacts, but in the goal of promoting more sustainable, "circular" production and consumption models and in spreading "green" employment.
In addition to the enhancement of environmental quality and compliance with social criteria, the application of Minimum Environmental Criteria also responds to the public administration's need to rationalize its consumption, reducing its spending wherever possible.
To date, CAMs have been adopted for 17 categories of supplies and procurements, and the new CAM for sanitation and cleaning services has recently been released.
Integrated systems engineering