Federal Agencies Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Increase Renewables

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                                                                                      Contact: press@ceq.eop.gov
July 25, 2014                                                                         

Federal Agencies Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Increase Renewables
Annual Energy and Sustainability Performance Updates show significant progress

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As part of the Obama Administration’s initiative to reduce energy use, pollution and waste and save money in Federal operations, Federal agencies today released annual updates that show significant progress toward aggressive energy and sustainability goals set by the President in 2009. 

“The President firmly believes that the Federal Government should lead by example in improving energy efficiency and cutting harmful carbon pollution,” said Mike Boots, Acting Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. “With today’s annual updates on sustainability and energy, it’s clear that Federal agencies are making significant headway in meeting and exceeding our goals – all while saving taxpayer money – and identifying strategies to make additional progress.”

“An energy efficient government is good for the environment, good for the taxpayer, and ultimately, in the best interest of the American people,” said Beth Cobert, Deputy Director for Management of the Office of Management and Budget. "The Federal government is maintaining its commitment to making further progress through our Cross Agency Priority goal on climate change which focuses on actions that we are taking to increase our use of renewable energy as well as reducing emissions.”

The annual performance scorecards released today benchmark agencies’ progress and help them to target the best opportunities to improve their energy efficiency and reduce costs and waste in their operations moving forward. The Federal Government – the largest energy consumer in the U.S. economy – announced today that it has already reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent since 2008, the equivalent of permanently taking 1.8 million cars off the road, and that 9 percent of Federal Government electricity is now from renewable sources.

An overwhelming majority Federal agencies have made progress in deploying renewable energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. For example, yesterday the Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced renewable energy projects at the Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe, Hawaii, and Camp Smith in Aiea, Hawaii. The projects are expected to generate an estimated average savings of $1.6 million for taxpayers during its first year of operation; avoid the burning of 54,000 barrels of imported oil, and reduce CO2 emission by 20,000 tons; equivalent to annual energy use of over 5,000 average homes on Oahu.

This is the fourth time agencies have publicly released their Office of Management and Budget energy and sustainability scorecards as part of the Administration’s commitment to increasing transparency and accountability in Federal operations.  Based on these FY 2013 benchmarks, agencies will update their annual Sustainability Plans to continue to improve their performance.

To view agency scorecards, visit: http://www.performance.gov/node/3406/view?view=public#progress-update

To learn more about Executive Order 13514, visit: http://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/administration/eop/ceq/sustainability

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