Biden Administration Takes Important Step In Buying Clean

Published by Natural Resources Defense Council: The Biden Administration has taken an important step forward in leveraging the purchasing power of the federal government to grow the market for cleaner industrial materials. For the first time, the Government Services Administration (GSA), which is responsible for delivering much of the space requirements of federal agencies and oversees $75 billion in annual contracts for the federal government, announced last week that it will set a new standard for contractors to use low embodied carbon concrete in all its major construction projects, and to meet new standards for environmentally preferable asphalt. To qualify as “low-embodied carbon concrete” under GSA’s new standard, mixes will have to meet a 20% reduction in carbon intensity limit proposed by New Buildings Institute for inclusion in building codes.