Green Procurement in Romanian Construction Projects. A Cluster Analysis of the Barriers and Enablers to Green Procurement in Construction Projects from the Bucharest-Ilfov Region of Romania

The research presented in this paper aimed at identifying the most significant green procurement barriers and enablers for construction projects in the Bucharest-Ilfov region and grouping them into clusters. For this purpose, 14 barriers and 14 enablers were selected on the basis of the literature review and a questionnaire-based survey was carried out with members of the construction projects' teams from the analyzed region. The cluster analysis resulted in eight clusters for barriers and seven clusters for enablers. In the case of barriers, the most significant cluster was the one that included the barrier regarding technical and technological difficulties related to the use of green building materials. Another significant barrier was the increase of project execution costs. Enablers from the most significant cluster had higher energy efficiency and use of green building materials as a competitive advantage. Another significant enabler identified was regarding the pressure to implement environmental protection policies/legislation. To explain and detail the results of the cluster analysis, semi-structured interviews were carried out with experts involved in projects. They indicated, in most cases, the same barriers and enablers as those obtained from the cluster analysis.