President Barack Obama signed a stimulus bill into law in 2009 that included at least $4.5 billion to turn federal buildings into "high-performance green buildings." The 2010 budget outline that followed stated they would allocate more funds to help federal buildings meet a "25 percent energy efficiency improvement goal by 2013."
When we last checked this promise, we rated it In the Works because of these provisions. It was unclear how he would actually regulate this, though, and if he would get the necessary funding to do so.
In March 2015, Obama released an executive order cutting the federal government's greenhouse gas emissions to 40 percent of their 2008 levels. The executive order also includes a specific provision for reducing energy use by 2.5 percent annually over the next 10 years in all federal buildings.
This doesn't quite reach the 25 percent improvement Obama initially promised. Instead, if this executive order stays on track, they won't reach it until 2025. Based on the White House's emissions scorecard, 65 percent of federal energy providers disclosed their emissions and were within the regulation range. In 2016, however, 52 percent of these providers did not submit energy targets.
In hindsight, we know that Obama did not meet his goal of improving energy efficiency by 25 percent in 2013. Instead, the administration does seem to be on track by 2025 to do so if their suppliers continue to report and meet their targets. We therefore rate this a Compromise.
