Casten, Warren, Escobar, 23 Lawmakers Urge Biden Administration to Finalize Climate Risk Disclosure Rule for Federal Contractors
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Congressman Sean Casten (D-Ill.), co-chair of the Congressional Sustainable Investment Caucus, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) led their colleagues in a letter to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Council, composed of the Department of Defense (DoD), General Services Administration (GSA), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), urging them to finalize the Federal Supplier Climate Risks and Resilience Rule as quickly as possible.
The federal government spends around $700 billion annually on procurement, making it the world’s single largest buyer of goods and services. With these vast supply chains, the government has an obligation to measure, manage, and reduce the risks associated with climate change. With this rule, the federal government has an opportunity to use its purchasing power to protect taxpayer investments and government operations and ensure contractors take steps to reduce their carbon footprints and increase their resilience to climate-related disruptions.
The Federal Supplier Climate Risks and Resilience Rule would require major federal contractors to disclose basic climate-related risks and emissions, with varying levels of emissions reporting depending on the amount contractors receive in annual federal contracts. Only contractors with at least $7.5 million in annual contracts would be required to comply. Though the rule would only affect approximately 1.3 percent of federal contractors, the contractors that this rule would apply to account for about 85 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the federal supply chain.
A review of the regulation’s comments conducted by the CERES Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets found widespread support among the public and key organizations. Specifically, the review found that virtually all of the roughly 19,000 individuals who commented on the rule and a plurality of the organizations that commented on the rule supported the rule.
The letter was also signed by Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Representatives Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.), Julia Brownley (D-Calif.), André Carson (D-Ind.), Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), Bill Foster (D-Ill.), Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Summer Lee (D-Pa.), James McGovern (D-Mass.), Kevin Mullin (D-Calif.), Eleanor Norton (D-D.C.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Katie Porter (D-Calif.), Janice Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Juan Vargas (D-Calif.).
Text of the letter can be found here.
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