Available online at www.CivileJournal.org
Civil Engineering Journal
(E-ISSN: 2476-3055; ISSN: 2676-6957)
Vol. 9, No. 04, April, 2023
849
Investigation Study of the Challenges in Green Procurement
Implementation in Construction Projects in UAE
Muataz Hazza Al Hazza
1*
, Maktoom Muqtadar
1
, Khaled El Salamony
1
,
Islam F. Bourini
2
, Ahmad Sakhrieh
1
, Mohammed Alnahhal
1
1
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, American University of Ras Al Khaimah, Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates.
3
Dubai Business School, University of Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Received 21 January 2023; Revised 15 March 2023; Accepted 23 March 2023; Published 01 April 2023
Abstract
The global construction industry is responsible for significant environmental and societal effects. Some researchers claim
that it accounts for 35% of global gas emissions. One of the solutions is to practice green supply chain management. Part
of this is Green Procurement (GP) to conserve energy and money. However, challenges in implementing green procurement
in the construction industry are rising. This research aims to identify the most significant challenges when implementing
green procurement (GP) in construction projects in the UAE. A comprehensive article review was conducted to determine
the critical obstacles highlighted by different researchers. These challenges were prioritized using the analytical hierarchy
process (AHP) method, and then recommendations on best practices to overcome these challenges were proposed. The
results show that the lack of top management commitment is the biggest challenge when implementing green procurement
in the construction industry in the UAE, with a priority value of 0.331, followed by a lack of knowledge, with a value of
0.2748. In contrast, lack of awareness is the lowest-ranked factor, with a value of 0.103.
Keywords: Green Procurement; Construction Project; Challenges; AHP.
1. Introduction
As the global population rapidly rises, the demand for more resources, such as energy, water, and food, has also
increased, accelerating greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE). One of the most significant contributors to gas emissions is
the construction industry. Rais et al. [1] stated that construction activities cause many environmental problems, such as
noise, air pollution, waste, and water pollution. Subramanian [2] claimed that the building industry consumes about 40
percent of the extracted materials and is responsible for 35 percent of CO2 emissions. Crawford [3] claimed that the
construction industry accounts for about 39% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
One of the best practices to reduce this is to implement green supply chain management (GSCM). An essential part
of GSCM is green procurement, which has been extensively studied in the literature [4]. Procurement is the process of
acquiring the goods you need to run your business. On the other hand, supply chain management is concerned with how
those supplies are turned into finished goods and distributed to customers. Procurement is concerned with obtaining
supplies; supply chain management is concerned with all this and more. The investigation of GSCM in general and
green procurement was accomplished with two critical goals: analyzing barriers and challenges and proposing a strategy
or success factors for green implementation. Al Nuaimi et al. [5] considered implementing sustainable procurement in
the United Arab Emirates (UAE) public sector. This study is limited to analyzing and prioritizing the most effective
* Corresponding author: muataz.alhazza@aurak.ac.ae
http://dx.doi.org/10.28991/CEJ-2023-09-04-06
© 2023 by the authors. Licensee C.E.J, Tehran, Iran. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).