A Biden administration proposal that would require defense contractors to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and plans to reduce those emissions was rejected by the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) last week.
The administration’s proposal is still going through the federal rulemaking process and applies to all federal contractors. However, the HASC last week during markup of its recommendations for the fiscal year 2024 defense authorization bill approved an amendment that would prevent the Defense Department from requiring contractors it does business with to disclose their GHG emissions.
The amendment offered by Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas) was agreed by a vote of 31 to 28, with all Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed. The HASC on Thursday approved its version of the FY ’24 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which includes Fallon’s amendment, with a lone dissenting vote by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.).
Fallon’s amendment pertains to Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. Scope 1 emissions are those an entity owns or has direct control over such as industrial processes and a fleet of vehicles. Scope 2 emissions are indirect such as acquired energy which is produced elsewhere. Scope 3 emissions are outside the control of an organization and entail things like employee commuting, emissions generated by suppliers, and downstream uses of a product such as the DoD’s use of aircraft, ships and tanks.
Earlier this year, several trade associations representing defense contractors asked the administration to halt the GHG rulemaking process to address their conccerns, which include extending proposed deadlines and giving contractors more flexibility in working with different standards bodies around carbon emissions.
The biggest gripe the associations have is with the Scope 3 emissions and the related compliance challenges. Defense contractors are already pursuing targeted reductions of their carbon emissions.
The Senate Armed Services Committee last week completed its markup of its version of the NDAA but a summary of the bill makes no mention of policies related to GHG emissions.