Environmental groups generally hailed the
order as a positive step, although some
questioned the 30-year time frame to achieve
net-zero emissions.
The order sets “a bold benchmark for electricity
procurement” and puts the government’s
“immense buying power to work advancing
critical carbon-free technologies,” said Lindsey
Baxter Griffith, federal policy director of the
Clean Air Task Force, an advocacy group.
“We’re pleased to see the U.S. federal
government, which is the largest electricity
purchaser in the nation, focus on fully
decarbonizing electricity (and) investing in
solutions that will work across our grid every
hour of every day,” Griffith said.
But to Bill Snape, a lawyer at the Center for
Biological Diversity, another environmental
group, “2050 is an extremely weak goal for the
federal government to free itself from climate-
heating pollution.”
The order “ignores existing technology” and
adds decades to a commitment by the General
Services Administration, which oversees
government purchasing and real estate, to
move to 100% renewable energy by 2025,
Snape said.
“This is like a teenager promising to clean their
room in 30 years. We need action now,” he said.
The White House said the order should make
federal agencies more resilient to the effects of
climate change and increase the sustainability
of supply chains, lessening future disruptions of
and damage to federal operations, assets
and programs.