Federal Energy and Environmental Management Continues to Make Strong Progress

March 31, 2005

President Bush has called on the federal government to lead by example, to be a good neighbor, and to be a good steward. The Council on Environmental Quality, the Office of Management and Budget's Office of Federal Procurement Policy, and the Federal Environmental Executive led an interagency working group that prepared a report highlighting the activities and accomplishments of the federal community in meeting this charge.

On October 18, 2004, Federal Environmental Executive Edwin Piñero sent to President George W. Bush the report entitled, Leading by Example: A Report to the President on Federal Energy and Environmental Management (2002-2003).

The Federal Environmental Executive stated, "The federal government continues to make strong progress in being more environmentally sustainable and energy efficient. We continue to work diligently to ensure the federal government does its part to use our resources wisely so that we can make our communities more livable, our businesses more competitive, and our world a cleaner place for future generations."

The report highlights several achievements, including:

• Almost 2,000 federal facilities are actively implementing environmental management systems to provide a strategic framework for ensuring compliance with environmental requirements, integrating environmental accountability into day-to-day decision making and planning, and enabling continual improvement.
• From FY 1990 to 2003, total carbon emissions from energy used in federal facilities declined by 2.8 million metric tons of carbon equivalent. This is equal to removing almost 2.1 million cars from the road for 1 year.
• In FY 2003, agencies implemented 103 alternatively financed energy projects through which the private sector invested approximately $570 million, for a life-cycle cost savings of $1.1 billion.
• As of March 2004, agencies reported purchasing almost 552 gigawatt-hours of green power, enough renewable electricity to service more than 54,000 average households a year.
• More than 150 federal buildings are seeking the US Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, which integrates building design and construction practices with energy and environmental considerations.
• In FY 2003, federal agencies acquired nearly 21,000 alternative fuel vehicles (AFV), nearly doubling the AFV acquisitions from the previous year and raising the total AFV inventory to almost 81,000.
• In FY 2002, almost 733,000 federal employees, or approximately 30 percent of the federal workforce, commuted to work by other than single-occupancy vehicles, helping reduce traffic congestion and air pollution. A total of $261 million was invested during FY 2002 insupport of these programs.

The Report also discusses progress on the recommendations made in the 2000-2001 Report to the President that challenged the federal sector to continue improving its environmental stewardship.

View the full report.

For more information, contact Juan Lopez, 202-564-1297.