This paper reports two studies of the implementation of environmental requirements in Swedish road maintenance contracts. It aims to examine the fulfillment and follow-up of the requirements, the client intentions behind the requirements, and factors influencing the contractors' environmental performance. The study shows that a serious effort to integrate environmental aspects into the contracts has been made. However, the application of the requirements is hampered by deficient information transfer to key actors and a lack of systematic follow-up of the requirements. In order to make green procurement effective, simpler and clearer requirements and effective follow-up routines are needed