US President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order that aims to use the federal government’s buying power to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 65 percent by 2030 and to make the federal government carbon-neutral by 2050.
Under the order, the White House is set to spend billions of dollars to expand its federal fleet of electric vehicles, upgrade buildings owned or leased by the government and add more clean electricity to the country’s grid.
President Biden is also directing all Federal agencies to transition to a Zero-Emission Fleet. Under the order, each agency needs to achieve 100% zero-emission vehicle acquisitions by 2035, including 100% zero-emission light-duty vehicle acquisitions by 2027.
“Each agency’s light-duty vehicle acquisitions shall be zero-emission vehicles by the end of fiscal year 2027. Each agency with a fleet comprising at least 20 vehicles shall develop and annually update a zero-emission fleet strategy that shall include optimizing fleet size and composition; deploying zero-emission vehicle re-fueling infrastructure; and maximizing acquisition and deployment of zero-emission light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicles where the General Services Administration (GSA) offers one or more zero-emission vehicle options for that vehicle class.”
According to a White House fact sheet, the federal government will use its annual purchasing power of $650 billion in goods and services to upgrade efficiency at its 300,000 buildings and replace its fleet of 600,000 cars and trucks with electric vehicles.
