After years of grappling with a US administration that refused to support climate action, news of what the current White House is doing is really encouraging.
The White House is launching the GreenGov Challenge to harness the collective wisdom of America’s more than 1.8 million Federal and military staff.
You can read more about the White House’s efforts to go green here. In a nutshell, President Obama has signed an Executive Order that sets sustainability goals for Federal agencies and focuses on making improvements in their environmental, energy and economic performance.
The Executive Order requires Federal agencies to set a 2020 greenhouse gas emissions reduction target within 90 days; increase energy efficiency; reduce fleet petroleum consumption; conserve water; reduce waste; support sustainable communities; and leverage Federal purchasing power to promote environmentally-responsible products and technologies.
“As the largest consumer of energy in the U.S. economy, the Federal government can and should lead by example when it comes to creating innovative ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase energy efficiency, conserve water, reduce waste, and use environmentally-responsible products and technologies,” said President Obama. “This Executive Order builds on the momentum of the Recovery Act to help create a clean energy economy and demonstrates the Federal government’s commitment, over and above what is already being done, to reducing emissions and saving money.”
I know some governments in Asia Pacific have made their efforts to green their operations. But I haven’t heard of any Government adopting something of this scale to coordinate the greening efforts of its agencies and ministries collectively.
Time to start GreenGov Asia perhaps?
