On March 19, President Obama signed an executive order committing the federal government to cutting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 40% of 2008 levels by 2025. The commitments described in the executive order are another step toward supporting the United States’ international commitment to greenhouse gas reductions at the UN climate change talks in Paris in December. In November, the U.S. and China jointly announced their commitments to carbon dioxide emissions.
In a fact sheet describing the action, the White House set four other goals for federal agencies by 2025:
- Reduce water intensity in federal buildings by 2% per year;
- Ensure 25 percent of federal buildings’ total energy (electric and thermal) consumption is from clean energy sources;
- Reduce energy use in federal buildings by 2.5% per year between 2015 and 2025; and
- Reduce per-mile GHG emissions from federal fleets by 30% from 2014 levels and increase the percentage of zero emission and plug-in hybrid vehicles in federal fleets.
The White House also highlighted the GHG emissions reduction targets for several of its largest suppliers including AMWA subscribers AECOM and CH2M Hill. The White House released a scorecard to track federal supplier self-reported emissions.