While negotiations on a budget reconciliation package are still ongoing, the Biden-Harris Administration is taking immediate action to make meaningful progress toward our climate goals. President Biden is leveraging the expertise, leadership, and purchasing power of the federal government to cut emissions, move the market toward cleaner industrial materials, and make our economy more competitive in the 21st century.

This past December, President Biden signed an executive order directing the federal government to leverage its purchasing power to reduce emissions across federal operations and invest in American clean energy and manufacturing industries. On Tuesday, the Administration followed up on this executive order, announcing a series of steps to reduce industrial emissions while bolstering the competitiveness of American manufacturers.

"As the largest single customer in the world, the federal government has the power to move the entire market toward cleaner industrial materials..."

Why so much focus on the industrial sector? Industrial emissions comprise a significant percentage of US greenhouse gas emissions (23% of total US GHG emissions in 2019), and industry is predicted to overtake transportation and power as the heaviest-polluting economic sector by 2030. That means to meet net-zero emissions by mid-century, we need to start cutting emissions from industries like steel, aluminum, and cement that are notoriously hard to decarbonize. Fortunately, the federal government has a unique resource at its disposal that can help make an immediate impact: its purchasing power.

As the largest single customer in the world, the federal government has the power to move the entire market toward cleaner industrial materials by implementing a procurement policy that rewards manufacturers that emit fewer emissions in their production processes than their competitors. For instance, the government can implement a "Buy Clean" program that awards contracts to companies using verifiably cleaner materials to build or repair federally-funded roads, schools, bridges, and other projects. This market signal will compel manufacturers to improve their sustainability practices in order to compete for federal dollars.

"Establishing a common framework of embodied carbon accounting that both government and the private sector could use would provide regulatory certainty and ensure that manufacturers don't face a patchwork of different requirements."

"Establishing a common framework of embodied carbon accounting that both government and the private sector could use would provide regulatory certainty and ensure that manufacturers don't face a patchwork of different requirements."

Any successful Buy Clean program must be based on an accurate and standardized system to quantify and track the "embodied" greenhouse gas emissions associated with widely used construction materials. This means quantifying all the pollution emitted from mining the raw ingredients, transporting them, running the kiln or furnace to produce the materials, and then using them to construct a road or building.

Establishing a common framework of embodied carbon accounting that both government and the private sector could use would provide regulatory certainty and ensure that manufacturers don't face a patchwork of different requirements. Thankfully, embodied carbon can be measured and disclosed using Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), an internationally-recognized tool enabling a fair comparison of different products commonly used by manufacturers, construction companies, and buyers to inform sustainable building practices.

So how is the Biden-Harris Administration moving the ball forward?

"...the Administration is actively negotiating an unprecedented trade deal with the EU to incentivize the disclosure and reduction of embodied carbon by limiting market access for high-emissions steel and aluminum products."

On Tuesday, the White House established the first-ever Buy Clean Task Force, composed of leaders from across the federal government, to guide sustainable procurement. As part of this overall effort, several agencies will begin promoting the use of EPDs and incentivizing the acquisition of lower-carbon materials for federal infrastructure projects.

Meanwhile, federal agencies have been actively engaging with climate and industry experts for recommendations on reducing climate risk via the federal acquisition process to maximize the impact of new Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) rules. These are important initial steps toward rethinking how the federal government evaluates infrastructure project proposals and enacting sweeping changes in how it spends taxpayer dollars to maximize its impact. Third Way and other leading climate groups worked together to submit recommendations on how to effectively collect embodied carbon information by scaling up the creation and use of EPDs and implementing procurement programs like Buy Clean that incorporate both cost and climate considerations into procurement decisions.

"Congress still needs to pass the climate and clean energy provisions included in the Build Back Better Act in order to significantly cut emissions and build out a robust clean energy economy in the US."

Finally, the Administration is actively negotiating an unprecedented trade deal with the EU to incentivize the disclosure and reduction of embodied carbon by limiting market access for high-emissions steel and aluminum products. And the US is continuing to work with the World Economic Forum to build out the First Movers Coalition (a collection of leading companies around the world) and secure their commitment to purchase lower-carbon steel, aluminum, and cement to further incentivize cleaner manufacturing practices.

The Administration's efforts to expand clean procurement in the US and abroad aren't just valuable to our climate agenda. In addition to cutting carbon pollution, a large-scale transition to cleaner industrial materials would help reinvigorate America’s manufacturing sector. A recent report from the International Energy Agency, Net Zero by 2050, estimates that global demand for clean energy and sustainable infrastructure materials will reach $5 trillion per year by 2030. 

Clean procurement policies will reward companies taking active measures to disclose and reduce the embodied carbon of their products. At the same time, these policies will identify industries and regions where federal investment is needed to help keep pace with the growing global demand for more sustainable materials. Furthermore, it will allow many US companies to leverage their carbon advantage over foreign competitors in countries like China and India that create comparatively more industrial climate pollution. Capitalizing on this opportunity could lay the foundation for a robust and thriving clean manufacturing industry in the US that supports jobs, families, and communities across the country.

To be clear, Congress still needs to pass the climate and clean energy provisions included in the Build Back Better Act in order to significantly cut emissions and build out a robust clean energy economy in the US. These provisions would take vital steps to cut carbon from heavy industry, like providing funding for facility retrofits, tax incentives for more sustainable manufacturing processes, and resources to track embodied carbon and allow agencies to purchase low-carbon construction materials in greater volume. Still, the Administration isn't wasting any time. It's using every lever available to put the US in a better position to deploy these resources and realize the substantial benefits they offer to both the climate and the US economy.

Above all, the federal actions the Administration has taken are preparing the US to lead the world in developing clean, advanced manufacturing practices and exporting low-carbon products and carbon management technologies around the world.