Recommendations of Specifications, Standards, and Ecolabels for Federal Purchasing

The Recommendations of Specifications, Standards, and Ecolabels help federal purchasers identify and procure environmentally preferable products and services. Federal purchasers are directed in Executive Order 14057 on Catalyzing American Clean Energy Industries and Jobs through Federal Sustainability, the Federal Sustainability Plan and subpart 23.1 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation to procure products and services meeting the Recommendations to meet net-zero emissions and other procurement goals. The Recommendations were last updated in October 2023.

The Recommendations leverage private sector approaches to defining and measuring sustainability by including over 40 private sector standards/ecolabels in more than 30 purchase categories. The Recommendations give preference to multi-attribute/life-cycle based standards/ecolabels that address key impact areas (also known as hotspots) and where a competent third-party certification program can verify product conformance.

• Read the federal register notice of EPA's proposed update to the Recommendations and submit a comment to the docket by Oct. 15, 2024.
• Learn about EPA and GSA Acting to Cut PFAS in Government Purchasing for Cleaning Products
• Learn about how EPA is expanding the Recommendations of Specifications, Standards and Ecolabel.
• Webinar Recording: Using Ecolabels to Enable Impactful Sustainable Procurement
• Learn about revisions to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) which includes new requirements to procure products and services meeting the Recommendations.

The Recommendations are organized in the table below to help users identify standards/ecolabels by product category and explore how key environmental hotspots like Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) and plastics are addressed. Enter specific keywords in the Search box, choose a product category, or select a hotspot to get started. To start a new search, click "Reset" or refresh the page. Additional information for each standard/ecolabel is available by clicking the blue info icon. Other information to explore includes:

Reminder: before buying new, browse GSAXcess to find surplus and/or lightly used items.

Inclusion in the Recommendations is not an endorsement by EPA of the standards/ecolabels or of any of the products conformant to these standards/ecolabels, but rather a statement that the standard/ecolabel meets EPA’s Framework for the Assessment of Environmental Performance Standards and Ecolabels for Federal Purchasing or is recommended for use by another Federal agency.