A French city is procuring specialist advice to secure climate, air, energy and circular economy labelling, adding to a wave of public green consultancy.
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Ville de Rouen has launched a contract notice for specialised consulting and support services covering climate, air, energy and circular economy labelling. Published on 19th December 2025, the contract notice shows a French city looking to formalise and obtain recognition for its environmental and resource policies. It also underlines how labelling schemes are becoming a common tool for public bodies that want both to structure their climate action and to demonstrate progress to residents and other stakeholders.
At the core of the notice is an integrated brief: the chosen provider will help Rouen pursue labelling that spans climate, air quality, energy use and the circular economy. Instead of treating these themes separately, the city has bundled them into a single consulting and support contract. That framing reflects how environmental performance, resource efficiency and local economic choices now sit closely together in municipal strategy.
The wording covers both “consulting” and “support services”, signalling that the successful bidder is expected to provide strategic advice as well as hands-on assistance. The task is not only to analyse Rouen’s starting point, but also to accompany the municipality through the practical steps of preparing for, applying for and sustaining the relevant label or labels.
The emphasis on “labelling” is notable. Rather than commissioning a one-off study, the city is pointing towards formal recognition of its efforts in climate, air, energy and circular economy fields. Labels typically come with defined criteria and external scrutiny, which can help authorities benchmark themselves against peers, identify gaps and communicate progress in a way that is easy for non‑specialists to understand.
Although the notice gives no further detail on methodology or target schemes, it clearly places transparency at the heart of Rouen’s climate and resource agenda. By moving straight to a contract notice, the city is signalling that it prefers to secure dedicated specialist support rather than rely solely on internal capacity for this work.
Rouen’s move fits into a clear pattern among French local authorities. Over the course of 2025, a series of contract notices has shown cities and inter‑municipal structures commissioning external support to navigate climate and energy labels, evaluate long‑term plans and quantify emissions.
In July 2025, the Commune de Vire Normandie issued a Support Mission for Cit'ergie Labeling, focused entirely on guiding the municipality through the Cit'ergie labelling process. Later, in October 2025, the Conseil Départemental du Nord sought Consultant Support for Ecological Transition, asking for services tied to Ademe labelling of a “committed territory” focused on ecological transition. Together, these notices underline how labelling frameworks are shaping local climate action.
The Communauté d'Agglomération du Grand Dole followed a similar path. Its July 2025 tender for Evaluation and Revision of PCAET requested assistance for the final evaluation and revision of its Territorial Climate-Air-Energy Plan, along with a greenhouse gas emissions report for the community. In December 2025, Cté Cnes La Domitienne published a Project Management Assistance notice for revising its own Territorial Climate Air Energy Plan, again signalling the need for specialised guidance to keep such strategies up to date.
Further east, the Communauté d'Agglomération Bar-le-Duc Sud Meuse sought Climate and Energy Support in October 2025, explicitly combining “Climate Air Energy and Circular Economy initiatives” in a single contract. That combination mirrors Rouen’s focus on both low‑carbon transition and resource use. At a more technical level, the COMMUNE DE LEOGNAN’s July 2025 Eco Energy System Support notice, centred on implementing the Eco Energy Tertiary System with a focus on auditing, shows how compliance duties are driving demand for climate‑and‑energy specialists.
Measuring emissions has become a consulting task in its own right. Waste management body TRIFYL, for example, launched a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Assessment in November 2025 to calculate emissions linked to its activities. Such baselines sit alongside labelling and plan revision as core elements of many local climate strategies.
Once strategies and labels are in place, authorities also need help with day‑to‑day implementation. The Ville de Chambéry’s October 2025 Project Management Assistance tender highlights this operational focus. It sought support in monitoring the technical, administrative and financial aspects of climate engineering installations and related services – a reminder that low‑carbon infrastructure brings complex oversight requirements.
Other buyers have gone to market for broad energy advice. In August 2025, the Eurométropole de Strasbourg issued a Project Management Assistance notice for support and advice on energy‑related matters. Similar patterns appear beyond France: the Technische Universität Dresden, for example, published a Climate Protection Consulting Services notice in August 2025, seeking consulting services to develop a climate protection concept for the university.
In many cases, climate and environmental advice now comes bundled with legal or technical expertise. The Communauté d'agglomération Rochefort Océan’s September 2025 tender for Legal and Technical Support Services combined legal support, technical input and environmental expertise in a single package. Water utility Sénéo, in November 2025, issued a Consulting and Legal Assistance Services notice, again blurring the line between legal risk management and strategic consultancy.
Even project sponsors whose core mission lies elsewhere are investing in external environmental know‑how. The Ville de Lyon’s October 2025 Environmental Quality Support Services notice sought expertise and support to ensure environmental quality in construction projects. Eau De Paris, in December 2025, went to tender for Consulting Services for Sustainable Agriculture, commissioning individual advice on innovative and sustainable agricultural techniques for its operators. Both examples show how climate and resource concerns are now embedded in everyday operations.
Rouen’s explicit reference to circular economy labelling echoes a broader shift towards resource‑focused initiatives. In October 2025, the Grand Poitiers Communauté Urbaine published a notice titled Building for Circular Economy, seeking a facility to create a collaborative space focused on the circular economy. By tying built infrastructure to new economic models, such projects go beyond waste reduction and address how goods and services circulate locally.
Economic development teams are also bringing a sustainability lens to their strategies. Rennes Métropole’s December 2025 Strategic Consulting for Trade notice illustrates this. It called for assistance and consulting services to enhance trade and local economy initiatives – work that, read alongside climate and circular economy plans, points to a more integrated view of how local commerce, emissions and resource use interact.
In Bar-le-Duc Sud Meuse, climate, energy and circular economy priorities already sit in a single brief. Rouen’s new contract, with its mix of climate, air, energy and circular economy labelling, falls into the same family of integrated mandates. For advisors, such mandates tend to require expertise that spans decarbonisation, resource efficiency, stakeholder engagement and the practicalities of meeting multiple labelling criteria at once.
The trend extends beyond local authorities. International cooperation agency Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH published a September 2025 tender for Consulting for Energy Labelling Capacity, aimed at enhancing Georgian market surveillance capacity in energy labelling and ecodesign through consulting services. Here, advisers are asked not just to help one organisation, but to strengthen an entire market’s ability to oversee energy‑related labelling rules.
Taken together with the academic example of Technische Universität Dresden’s climate protection concept, these notices show how universities and development agencies are operating in the same consultancy market as cities and agglomerations. Skills in climate strategy, energy management, emissions accounting and circular economy planning are in demand across borders and sectors.
For Ville de Rouen, the key question is how this broad consulting brief will translate into concrete labelling outcomes. The contract notice does not spell out milestones or the specific schemes targeted, but its focus on climate, air, energy and circular economy points towards a comprehensive approach rather than a narrow compliance exercise.
Observers of public‑sector procurement may also look for follow‑on tenders, mirroring the path taken by communities such as Grand Dole and La Domitienne, where plan revisions and greenhouse gas inventories have generated additional commissions. If Rouen follows a similar trajectory, its labelling work could feed into updated territorial plans, new emissions baselines or further operational support contracts.
More broadly, the cluster of notices from the second half of 2025 points to a maturing market for climate and circular economy consultancy. As labels, plans and audits become standard tools of local governance, suppliers that can navigate both technical requirements and local priorities are likely to remain in demand – in Rouen, across France and in the wider European public sector.
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