President Obama Issues Executive Order to Curb Government Carbon Pollution 40 Percent
The White House released a new Executive Order – Planning for Federal Sustainability in the Next Decade – on March 19, 2015. The executive order outlines new targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from all federal agencies.
A White House blog post (3/19) said the executive order will reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the U.S. government by 40 percent and increase the U.S. government’s share of renewables to 30 percent of electricity, both by the year 2025. It will also save taxpayers $18 billion in avoided energy costs by 2025, according to the blog post.
A White House Fact Sheet (3/19), released concurrently with the new executive order, sets out new supply chain standards, which will require greenhouse gas emissions reductions from the largest federal suppliers.
National Public Radio (3/19) reported that several major government contractors and suppliers announced plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The New York Times (3/19) pointed out that the Federal Government is responsible for less than 1 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, yet is the largest consumer of energy in the U.S. economy.
