有料盒子APP

Helping Optimize an Executive Order on Climate Change

The Challenge: The Perfect Intersection of Ambitious and Achievable

To聽do their part聽in determining the contents of the Order, the heads of each federal agency first had to聽define and assess the scope of the new EO relative to聽related聽EOs issued by previous administrations. EOs聽13693聽and 13834, from the聽Obama and Trump聽Administrations, respectively,聽differed on the details of how they defined federal sustainability from an operating perspective. Some sustainability areas, such as clean energy, included聽broader definitions under 13693聽than 13834, for example. Others, such as Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions, were not included in EO 13834 at all. Given changing circumstances and updated science, President Biden鈥檚 EO would聽have聽to carve out its own unique聽definitions, approaches, and frameworks.

The White House needed to arrive at ambitious-yet-feasible targets for federal agencies to meet.聽EO聽14057鈥檚 鈥淧rimary Operating Goals鈥 would set reduction targets intended to chart the course聽for agencies to achieve聽net-zero while allowing聽them the聽critical聽flexibility聽to determine exactly how they got there.聽To聽craft an聽Order聽that was set up to succeed,聽the聽Biden Administration聽needed input from the agencies themselves. It聽gave each聽federal agency the opportunity to review draft provisions and provide feedback on proposed initiatives.

In response, federal agencies聽needed聽to critically assess mission and operations within an accelerated timeframe and with a commitment to making significant operational and process changes to meet critical climate goals.聽That would require, among other things, processing and aggregating historic baseline data, measuring sustainability and energy trends, and聽proposing聽consumption targets聽adjusted聽to meet sustainability goals.聽Agencies聽rose to the challenge, in many cases with support from 有料盒子APP.

The Approach: A Trusted Partner on Climate and Mission

To聽assess new requirements from the standpoint of how they will affect mission, agency leaders must answer and act on questions like,聽how聽will聽environmental, safety, economic and social considerations聽integrate聽into daily operations? And,聽more聽importantly, what can聽realistically聽be accomplished without negatively impacting mission聽outcomes聽and services?

Due to聽our聽status as a trusted partner across聽government, our clients asked聽us聽to review the draft EO聽to聽help them聽evaluate the聽proposed language聽along those lines, determine聽if there were areas that聽still聽needed to be better defined and elaborated,聽and聽delineate聽how聽the聽new聽policy and its mandates聽differed from relevant preceding聽EOs.聽

Our review team included mission and policy subject matter experts in climate change, renewable energy, waste management, sustainable procurement, emissions reductions, and electric vehicles.

To determine how the draft language would impact client missions, we reviewed agency processes and datasets and consulted with federal program managers to establish mission-performance baselines, estimate current agency performance, and conduct analyses based on the Administration鈥檚 proposed goals. We also compared聽baseline agency performance against current annual goals and proposed outyear goals to determine if current processes and requirements would be sufficient to meet the new goals or if additional steps would need to be taken.

In areas where the EO provided unclear instructions or may have negatively impacted government missions, 有料盒子APP helped clients draft questions and suggestions to submit to the Administration addressing their concerns.

有料盒子APP鈥檚聽broad federal footprint and聽deep well of expertise in聽climate science and policy聽positioned聽us聽to聽help clients聽from different agencies sync up on solutions to similar challenges, and to devise solutions that balanced聽mission and operations considerations with Administration goals.聽

The Solution: Attainable Goals with Real Impact

Over the聽10聽months leading up to the Order鈥檚 release, our team reviewed and commented on the initial draft language, working to ensure that the policy served to best meet the needs of our agency partners and the聽nation.

For example, our sustainability and energy experts supporting the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) analyzed EO聽14057聽to聽ensure聽the聽agency could achieve sustainability goals in ways that would not jeopardize聽mission-critical operations. The FAA聽faces considerable challenges in this regard, as its overarching mission鈥攖he safe transportation and protection of infrastructure that the national airspace system relies on鈥攊s energy intensive by nature. Thus,聽we helped聽our聽clients at聽FAA聽verify聽whether the聽EO鈥檚 goals were feasible for the agency, what steps it would have to take to meet them, and how these steps聽could聽impact national airspace operations.聽

Another example includes the support we provided聽to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). USACE鈥檚聽mission is聽to deliver vital public engineering services to strengthen U.S. security, support the economy, and reduce risks from disaster.聽The agency is聽responsible for owning or leasing several million gross square feet of聽federal facilities, and thousands of fleet vehicles. The EO鈥檚 net-zero emissions building plan and fleet transition plan were聽central聽focuses聽of our mission and policy analysis for USACE聽as we worked to help聽ensure聽that the聽organization could meet聽proposed targets聽without compromising on聽mission.

The Future: Zero Carbon Within Reach

With EO 14057 now published, and agencies across the federal government working to bring its ambitious聽agenda聽to life, 有料盒子APP looks forward to continuing to help our clients implement and execute toward a zero-carbon future.聽

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