Obama Administration Delivers Federal Agency Climate Projects

As part of President Obama's Climate Action Plan, federal agencies on October 31 released their projects for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions and preparing for climate change impacts.

These agency Sustainability Projects and Climate Change Adaptation Projects coincide with the 5th anniversary of the President's 2009 Executive Order on Environmental, Energy and Economic Performance, which set aggressive energy, climate, and environmental targets for agencies. The agency plans, including the Energy Department's plan, detail how their actions have already reduced the federal government's direct greenhouse gas emissions by in excess of 17% since 2008-the equivalent of permanently taking 1.8 million cars off the road.

The White House also announced the winners of the 2014 GreenGov Presidential Awards, honoring federal agency teams and individuals who are taking innovative approaches to curbing waste, reducing energy use, and saving taxpayer money in federal agency operations. The Energy Department's Federal Energy Management Plan was acknowledged by the White House as a 2014 GreenGov Presidential Award Winner for a joint partnership with the Department of Transportation that promotes of facility audits, vehicle fleet improvements, and expansion of sustainable buildings. And to seek the best ideas for new climate and sustainability initiatives from the federal community, the White House today launched the GreenGov Challenge, an online tool for federal employees from across the country to suggest and vote on ideas for new ways to meet the President's sustainability goals.

Over the past year, the Energy Department achieved a number of significant successes in its efforts to promote clean energy, reduce waste and cut greenhouse gas emissions, including:

• The Department added 33 buildings to its green building portfolio, for a total of 101 buildings that meet the federal guiding principles for high performance and sustainable buildings, representing a 49% increase over FY 2012 performance

• The Department reduced fleet petroleum use by 8% from FY 2012, a 16% cumulative reduction from the FY 2005 baseline, placing the Department on track to meet its goal of a 30% cumulative reduction by FY 2020

• In June 2014, the Department completed construction of an 11.5 megawatt wind farm at its Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, making the five-turbine wind farm the biggest federally owned wind farm in the United States.

See the White House news release and the Energy Department news release.

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