It’s not just talk - a new report shows US Federal agencies walk the walk. They have a kind of scorecard to show how well they are doing on cutting their greenhouse gas emissions, improving their energy efficiency and reducing pollution and waste. The card shows them ahead of schedule with greenhouse gas emissions down 17% since 2008 - which equates roughly with taking 1.8 million cars off the road. Another leg of the program expects the agencies to get 20% of their energy from renewable sources by 2020. They beat their 2013 progress mark by 1.5% and are well on the way to meet or beat that energy goal. There’s even a plan for cutting indirect energy usage like agency travel and employee commutes.
The US has pledged a 17% reduction of American carbon emissions from 2005 levels by the year 2020. The goals are expected to be met in part from initiatives in President Obama’s Climate Action Plan. It shows the world the US is serious about mitigating climate change and sets a good example to share at the next climate conference.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/07/25/3464450/government-ghg-cuts/
Climate Action Plan Fact Sheet:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/06/25/fact-sheet-president-obama-s-climate-action-plan
Full 21 page PDF of the Climate Action Plan
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/image/president27sclimateactionplan.pdf