LMI to Help Feds Set GHG Reduction Targets
The Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded LMI a contract to support its Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) in implementation of Executive Order 13514. This order requires federal agencies to set greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets and increase energy efficiency, among other goals.
As part of this effort, DOE’s FEMP will create guidance for all federal agencies to measure and report their GHG emissions—the first time such emissions will be tracked on a national scale.
LMI will provide support to FEMP in 14 areas. One immediate task will be to finalize the Public Sector Standard (PSS), the protocol the federal government will use to guide development of its inventory of GHG emissions. LMI developed the PSS in cooperation with the World Resources Institute, Environmental Protection Agency, and DOE as a framework for accurate accounting of public-sector GHG emissions, using a method consistent with established private-sector standards. WRI and LMI will jointly release the PSS in January.
LMI will provide input into development of federal and DOE-specific guidance, assist agencies’ efforts to create GHG inventories, develop training courses and Webinars, create a reporting tool for agencies’ use in submitting results to the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the Office of Management and Budget, and monitor developments to improve the overall effort.
“The impact of President Obama’s executive order directing each federal agency to reduce greenhouse gasses cannot be overstated. The positive effects of a new energy-efficient federal government will have tremendous impact on both the environment and the taxpayer,” said Rob Hardison, lead author of the draft PSS and LMI’s lead on the DOE FEMP support effort. “These initial efforts will likely set many precedents should Congress subsequently create a national program. However, federal agencies’ limited experience in this area means few are ready to reduce emissions as required. LMI is excited to be working closely with the Department of Energy to help the federal government take the lead in what the president has called a new ‘clean energy economy.’”
LMI, a not-for-profit government consulting and research organization, started working on GHG accounting in the federal government in 2001. In anticipation of controls on greenhouse gas emissions in the public sector, LMI’s Energy and Environment researchers engaged public-sector stakeholder groups and agency leaders to ensure the federal inventory framework included issues unique to the federal government.