With growing awareness about climate change and the need to shift toward more sustainable practices, the U.S. government has taken bold steps to spearhead environmentally friendly construction efforts. Among these is the Federal Buy Clean Initiative, launched three years ago and recently updated by the White House. It is an initiative, which is part of a broader strategy to decarbonise federal procurement practices and promote sustainable building materials and methods across the United States – and it appears to be working-.
The Federal Buy Clean Initiative was initially launched in 2021 with the objective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions across federally funded construction projects. The initiative was aimed to prioritise the procurement of materials, especially carbon-intensive ones like steel, concrete and asphalt, that have lower embodied carbon. Such "embodied carbon" applies to the total emissions generated from the production, transportation, installation, maintenance and disposal of building materials.
Through this initiative, the U.S. federal government, which is one of the largest buyers of construction materials in the world, is using its purchasing power to create demand for low-carbon materials and in turn, it is hoped that this will drive significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from the construction sector.
In September 2023, the White House released an update on the progress of the Buy Clean Initiative, announcing a major expansion in both public and private sector participation. This was a significant update as it highlighted several companies and state entities that have committed to the goals of the initiative, including major corporations and key states. Click link to read more: