White House directs agencies to consider climate costs in purchases, budgets
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/4217336-white-house-directs-agencies-to-consider-climate-costs-in-purchases-budgets/
Excerpt: The White House is directing agencies to account for climate costs in purchasing decisions and budget proposals. The White House said in a Thursday fact sheet that agencies should weigh the costs of potential climate damages as they make purchases and put together budget proposals. ...A source briefed on the directive told The Hill that they expect it to also expand the use of climate accounting in environmental reviews for infrastructure projects. “It’s a way to balance climate effects against other economic effects,” said Max Sarinksy, senior attorney at the Institute for Policy Integrity at the New York University School of Law. For example, he said, the “social cost of carbon offers even stronger support for the purchase of electric vehicles because you would add the climate cost savings to the budgetary cost savings.” The White House’s decision specifically directs agencies to use what are known as the social costs of greenhouse gasses — which quantify in a dollar amount the climate costs of an action — to make these decisions. These costs are already used in some federal decisions like rulemaking....