IPA FE Subject A sample Question 51
A question IPA Japan published in 基本情報技術者試験 科目A サンプル問題 問51, translated into English. ITPEC is based on the same exams.
The national and local governments choose products and services that are acknowledged as actively addressing environmental concerns. What is this initiative called?
Explanation
Green procurement — when public bodies buy, they prefer products and services recognised as addressing environmental concerns.
Green procurement (green purchasing) adds environmental impact to the purchase criteria next to quality, price and delivery: the buyer chooses goods with a lower environmental burden, such as recycled or energy-saving products, and suppliers that are themselves active on the environment. In Japan the Act on Promoting Green Purchasing requires the national government and its agencies to buy this way and asks local governments to do the same; companies and consumers practise it too.
Answer (d)
Why not others:
- •(a) CSR — corporate social responsibility, a company's duties to society and its stakeholders as a whole; it does not name a purchasing practice, and the buyers here are governments, not companies
- •(b) Eco Mark certification — a third party certifying a product as environmentally friendly and letting it carry the label; it helps buyers choose, but it is the label, not the act of choosing
- •(c) Environmental assessment — evaluating in advance the environmental impact of a project, such as a large development, before it is carried out
Key rule: Choosing what to buy by its environmental burden is green procurement; an eco label only certifies a product, and an environmental assessment judges a project before it is built.
System Planning · AI-written, may contain errors
This question comes from the past questions IPA Japan publishes, translated into English by ITPEC Practice. ITPEC Practice is an independent study tool and is not affiliated with IPA or ITPEC. See the original paper (PDF) or Report an issue.