The Department of Budget and Management will give priority to more environmentally friendly purchases made by the government through the Green Public Procurement Strategy.

In a statement on Thursday, the Budget Department said the government agencies would try to purchase goods, services, and works that have less of an effect on the environment as part of the Green Public Procurement.

DBM also backed the amendments to the Government Procurement Reform Act that would make government purchases "go green."

The proposed change said that procurement "shall integrate green practices, as well as environmentally relevant criteria or requirements, (into) the design of their procurement projects to achieve broader policy objectives on waste reduction, pollution, and emission prevention, climate change mitigation, local and rural development, greening supply chains, greening infrastructure and work, industry productivity, and innovation."

"Because sustainability is one of my advocacies and a commitment of this administration, we will adopt a Green Public Procurement Strategy to procure goods, infrastructure projects, and consulting services with reduced environmental impact throughout their life cycle," Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said.

"We will also integrate green practices and environmentally relevant criteria in the procurement design of a project," Pangandaman added.