Over the past couple of years, a lobbying battle has been underway over a Biden administration proposal that would have required large federal contractors to publicly disclose their annual greenhouse gas emissions and climate-related financial risks.
In his announcement of the proposal in November 2022, President Biden said that it would make the U.S. the first country to require “major” contractors to set emissions reduction targets in line with the Paris Agreement on climate.
But on Jan. 10, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council (FAR Council), which helps coordinate procurement policy, announced it had withdrawn the climate disclosure rule, which was titled Disclosure of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Climate-Related Financial Risk. In part, the announcement said that agencies had run out of time during the Biden-Harris administration to finalize the proposal, given the outpouring of regulatory comments on it. The rule’s fizzling out was described as a win by one of many industry trade associations that lobbied against it.
The federal government is the largest purchaser of goods and services in the world, with around $630 billion in annual purchasing.
The rule would have required major contractors (those with $50 million and above in annual contracts) to publicly disclose emissions information, climate-related financial risks, and set science-based emissions reduction targets.
