Greenhouse Work

The Defense Department will not undertake any major refinements to its data collection and reporting in tracking fiscal year 2011 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, Defense Environment Alert reports this week. However, DOD will attempt some smaller improvements to its record-keeping following the release of its first-time comprehensive GHG inventory late last month. Further:

DOD's GHG emissions from its installations, purchased electricity and other non-combat-related consumption totaled 34 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCO2e) in FY10, according to the inventory, which was released on the heels of White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) scorecards evaluating federal agency performance in several sustainability areas, including GHG pollution reporting.

The inventory also revealed that DOD's military operations emitted more than 49 MTCO2e in FY 10 - far surpassing, as expected, the level of GHG emissions from its installations and other non-combat-related energy use. DOD's military operations are exempt from GHG reduction targets, but the military is still pursuing energy reduction and alternative fuels for operations that will have the added benefit of reducing GHG emissions.

DOD announced last month in conjunction with the OMB scorecards that it had made small cuts to its non-combat GHG emissions between 2008 and 2010 as it moves toward a target of reducing more than a third of its direct GHG emissions from non-combat related releases over the next decade (Defense Environment Alert, April 26).

Now, DOD and other agencies have released their first-time comprehensive inventories, indicating where they stand on GHG releases overall, and delineating specific types of releases, such as purchased electricity, fuel combustion and employee contributions, as well as the emissions it released from its military operations. The inventories and reduction targets are mandated by Executive Order (E.O.) 13514, signed in 2009.