GREEN PPPs ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS: A TREND ANALYSIS APPROACH

Public–Private Partnerships (PPPs) constitute a long-standing and widely used modality, particularly concentrated in transport, communications, core infrastructure and healthcare. They help governments ease fiscal constraints while enabling private actors to invest under an institutional safety net. In recent years, PPPs have been revisited through the lens of sustainability, giving rise to “green PPPs” that require the integrated design of economic, environmental and social pillars. Yet both sustainability and PPPs remain contested in the literature. This study first outlines the evolution of the sustainability concept and the institutional features of PPPs, then situates green PPPs through a focused review. Empirically, it conducts a trend analysis using European PPP Expertise Centre (EPEC) data for 28 countries over 1990–2020, estimating the trajectory and magnitude of green-PPP activity and calculating their shares within total PPPs by project count and value. The results indicate a strengthening shift toward green PPPs but also highlight persistent risks of “greenwashing.” Policy implications include codifying binding green criteria at the contracting stage, embedding measurable key performance indicators, and establishing independent verification and monitoring frameworks to align implementation with sustainable development objectives and to safeguard credibility and social legitimacy.