Coalition Comments Opposing Greenhouse Gas Disclosure Rule for Federal Contractors

ARTBA and its allies sent a letter to the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council (FAR) asking them to withdraw a proposal that would require significant and major contractors to disclose certain information concerning greenhouse gas emissions (“GHG”); make certain climate-related financial risk disclosures; and require major contractors to set science-based targets to reduce their GHG emissions. The coalition cited the following:

• The proposal would impose significant liability risk and cost burdens on federal contractors that is contrary to federal procurement laws’ underlying statutory goals of creating an economic and efficient system of government contracting
• A disproportionate burden of the Proposed Rule would fall on small businesses, both directly as federal contractors and indirectly as suppliers of major contractors.
• The Proposed Rule relies heavily on private entities such as the CDP (formerly “Carbon Disclosure Project”) and Science Based Targets Initiative (“SBTi”) to establish and enforce the requirements, supplanting the role of the FAR Council.
• With two-thirds of the federal government’s more than $600 billion dollars in contract obligations allocated to the Department of Defense, the proposal fails to evaluate the potential impacts of its provisions on military readiness and national-security. T