An interagency task force overseeing the Biden administration’s “buy clean” initiative in procurement of low greenhouse gas materials by federal agencies will soon “provide instructions to agencies for integrating Buy Clean into federal procurement and funding processes,” according to a White House fact sheet.
It said the first priority under the program is purchase of steel, concrete, asphalt and flat glass — which account for 98 percent of the government’s purchased construction material – that have lower levels of emissions in their manufacturing, transportation, installation, maintenance and disposal.
It cited as an example environmental standards the GSA issued earlier for concrete and asphalt that already are being used in land port of entry construction projects funded by the infrastructure spending law.
“In addition to federal procurement, Buy Clean will cover federally-funded projects,” it says, noting that last year’s infrastructure spending law included funds for GSA, Transportation and EPA to “designate and use construction materials and products that produce substantially lower levels of greenhouse gas emissions” and that the recently enacted Inflation Reduction Act provides funding for retrofitting industrial facilities and tax credits for clean technology manufacturing.
“The federal government is for the first time providing a market differentiation and incentives for lower-carbon materials. Companies across the nation will be rewarded for cutting carbon pollution across their entire value chains while supporting good American manufacturing jobs,” it says.
The task force—consisting of more than a dozen agencies that account for nine-tenths of federally-financed and purchased construction materials – “will continue to launch pilots, expand the scope of industrial pollutants and materials, engage industry, and establish mechanisms for collection and public disclosure of the data,” it says.
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