<p>Public transport in urban areas contributes significantly to reducing traffic congestion and pollutant emissions, enabling more efficient and sustainable travel. In developing countries such as Brazil, rapid urbanization has led to an accelerated increase in travel demand, vehicle fleet growth, and significant pressure on existing infrastructure. Urban transport must include environmental, economic, and social performance requirements to contribute to sustainable development. These requirements can be included through green public procurement (GPP). This paper presents data obtained from studies on GPP criteria in urban mobility within the Brazilian and the European Union (EU) context. The objective is to identify how GPP criteria are applied in Brazil and how consolidated EU practices can be replicated in the Brazilian context. To this end, a diagnosis is developed from an exploratory literature review of previous studies of GPP and transport. Subsequently, a qualitative analysis of the EU and six Brazilian capital’s GPP criteria for transportation is performed based on public transport tenders. Finally, the GPP criteria and recommendations for future tenders are compared. This analysis identifies how environmental, economic, social, and technical aspects are being addressed in Brazil, what weight is given to them in the awarding stage, and how they can be refined.</p> Graphical abstract <p></p>