The House Oversight and Accountability Committee has begun its oversight of a proposed rule that would require government contractors to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and financial risks from climate change.
In doing so, the House panel has requested relevant documents and a staff-level briefing from the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council to understand how the proposed rule could affect U.S. military readiness, according to a Thursday letter addressed to FAR Council Chair Mathew Blum.
These efforts will help the committee assess how the rule may impact the fossil-fuel reliant federal fleet and identify how the Science-Based Targets Initiative would interact with the FAR Council if the rule was implemented.
The committee requested that the FAR Council submit documents and communications with the Department of Defense, NASA and the General Services Administration related to SBTi, operations of the federal fleet, military readiness and cost under the proposed rule no later than Aug. 17. It also said that the staff-level briefing should be conducted no later than Aug. 10.
The rule was introduced in November as part of efforts to address climate risks while strengthening federal supply chains.
According to the proposed policy, third-party international organization SBTi would be in charge of validating contractors’ GHG emissions and setting emissions reduction targets for such companies.
