Minimum Environmental Criteria for construction (CAM)
Summary
TAV. 00Sets the Minimum Environmental Criteria for the procurement of design services and works for the new construction, renovation and maintenance of buildings. Mandatory in public tenders, they fix environmental requirements for materials, performance and site management across the building's whole life cycle.
Scope of application
TAV. 01Public procurement of building design, construction, renovation and maintenance. Also relevant to private works that access incentives referring to them.
In depth
TAV. AWhat the CAM require
Minimum Environmental Criteria (CAM) are the environmental requirements that the public administration includes in its contracts to reduce the impact of works across their whole life cycle. For construction they are set by the Ministerial Decree of 23 June 2022, in force since 4 December 2022, which replaced the earlier Decree of 11 October 2017. They are not a recommendation: they are the operational tool of Green Public Procurement.
Their strength lies in being mandatory. The Public Contracts Code (Legislative Decree 36/2023, art. 57) requires their application in contracts regardless of value: anyone designing or building for a public client must comply with and document them, and a bid that ignores the basic criteria is excluded.
How the decree is structured
The decree distinguishes basic criteria, which are mandatory, from rewarding criteria, which award points to the best bid. The requirements are not only about materials: they cover the building as a whole, the individual building components and site management, and they run across every phase of the tender.
- 01Selection of candidatesSubjective requirements of the economic operator, such as environmental management systems (ISO 14001, EMAS).
- 02Technical specificationsObjective requirements on building, components and site: energy performance, materials, management of construction and demolition waste.
- 03Award criteriaPoints for solutions that exceed the minimums: extra recycled content, advanced design for disassembly, life-cycle assessment (LCA) of the building.
- 04Contract clausesExecution conditions verified on site and at testing.
Requirements on materials and end of life
On materials the CAM act on several levers at once: recycled or recovered content for the various families (concrete, steel, brick, insulation, timber), limitation of hazardous substances, use of renewable materials and, above all, design for disassembly. A share by weight of building components and prefabricated elements, set by the decree, must be capable at end of life of selective demolition and of being recycled or reused.
| Lever | What it asks | How it is demonstrated |
|---|---|---|
| Recycled content | minimum shares of recycled or recovered material per material family | product certifications or manufacturer declarations |
| Design for disassembly | components designed for selective demolition and recycling at end of life | end-of-life design report |
| Hazardous substances | exclusion or limitation (e.g. CMR and REACH Candidate List substances) | technical and safety data sheets |
| Environmental performance | transparency of product impacts | EPD to UNI EN 15804 |
Key points
TAV. K- Mandatory in public contracts: Legislative Decree 36/2023 (art. 57) requires their application
- Material requirements: recycled/renewable content and EPDs to UNI EN 15804
- Site, design-for-disassembly and end-of-life criteria
- Organised into basic (mandatory) and rewarding (scoring) criteria
- In force since 4 December 2022; they replace the Decree of 11 October 2017
Materials concerned
TAV. MProcesses involved
TAV. PState-exam tracks that call it into play
TAV. EWhere this rule shows up in past architect qualification exams — study the rule, not just the theme.
Frequently asked questions
TAV. QAre the CAM mandatory for all public contracts?
Yes. The Public Contracts Code (Legislative Decree 36/2023, art. 57) requires their inclusion in public contracts regardless of value. Basic criteria are binding and breaching them leads to exclusion; rewarding criteria award points.
What is the difference between basic and rewarding criteria?
Basic criteria are mandatory minimum requirements: a bid that does not meet them is excluded. Rewarding criteria are optional improvements: meeting them earns additional points in the ranking.
Do the CAM also apply to private construction?
Not directly: they apply to public contracts. However many calls, incentives and sustainability protocols refer to them, and they remain a good-practice reference for private works too.
What does designing for disassembly mean?
It means conceiving the building and its components so that, at end of life, they can be taken apart by selective demolition and the materials recovered or recycled, instead of becoming mixed waste.
Glossary
TAV. G- CAM (Criteri Ambientali Minimi)
- Environmental requirements the public administration includes in contracts to reduce the impact of works across their life cycle.
- Green Public Procurement (GPP)
- The approach by which the public administration uses its demand for goods, services and works to steer the market towards lower-impact solutions.
- Criterio premiante
- A non-mandatory criterion that awards additional points to bids with environmental performance above the minimums.
- Disassemblabilità
- The ability of a building or component to be taken apart at end of life to recover and recycle materials (design for disassembly).
- EPD / DAP (UNI EN 15804)
- The Environmental Product Declaration: a verified document quantifying a product's environmental impacts according to common category rules.