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The District is taking its first actions to assess and reduce the carbon embodied in the goods, services, and activities on which the city runs. As a District Government, the food we serve, materials we use to build our schools, libraries, and roads, the devices that connect us, and the energy that powers city services all have an environmental footprint of their own. District Government can be a leader by harnessing its purchasing power to shift toward lower carbon materials or alternative services, and to reduce the consumption of new products altogether in moving to a more circular economy.
Leaders in this field note that the most significant consumption-based emissions sectors for urban policymakers are buildings and infrastructure, food, waste, private transport, aviation, textiles, electronics and household appliances. Many of these sectors apply to government procurement specifically. The District is leading with food—with a target to cut emissions from government food and beverage purchasing 25% by 2030—and is learning from peer cities and experts in each field as we think beyond food with the following best practices and recommendations:
Food
- Read the District’s first Green Food Report
- Coolfood Pledge and Resources (World Resources Institute)
Buildings and Infrastructure
- How to reduce embodied emissions in municipal construction (C40)
- Embodied Carbon Cities Policy Toolkit (RMI)
- City Policy Framework for Dramatically Reducing Embodied Carbon (CNCA)
- Federal Buy Clean Initiative
- Embodied Carbon Life Cycle Analysis: Southeast Library (Quinn Evans)
- Embodied Carbon Life Cycle Analysis: St. Elizabeth’s Building 2 (Hickok Cole)
Waste
- Deconstructing, not demolishing buildings (C40)
- Build Reuse Wiki (Build Reuse)
- Reduce single-use plastic in the food sector (C40)
- Reuse for Onsite Dining Library (Upstream)
Transportation
- Prioritize moving people (C40 resource for private transportation but applicable to government workers and fleets)
Electronics and Appliances
- Future of urban consumption in a 1.5C world (C40)
- EPEAT Registry (global ecolabel, managed by Global Electronics Council)
Find out more about DOEE’s work to support sustainable materials management for residents.