Following the Federal Acquisition Regulatory (FAR) Council’s proposed rule requiring federal contractors to disclose climate emissions, I was quoted in a Government Executive article offering perspective on the proposal from leaders in the contracting community.

I pointed out that, as broken down in the proposal, it “will be costly both financially and administratively.” Specifically, as estimated in the proposal, “the average major contractor who does not yet publicly disclose emissions or reduction goals should expect $460,603 in costs for the initial year and $414,725 annually thereafter. The average significant contractor is estimated to incur over $63,000 in initial costs, and roughly $48,000 annually thereafter,” I explained, noting that this can vary among organizations.

“From an administrative perspective, contractors must delegate employees with finding, organizing, and reviewing emissions data while working with external consultants to assist with the inventories,” I explained in the article. “Additionally, contractors will have to become familiar with a variety of new standards which will further absorb employee hours.”

Looking forward, I suggested “this rule is likely a harbinger of what is to come for the private sector at large as the [Securities and Exchange Commission] finalizes its own requirements for climate disclosure rules,” which if approved would apply to public companies.

The full article, “Here’s What the Contracting Community Thinks of the New Proposed Rule on Climate Reporting,” was published by Government Executive on November 15 and is available online. I also wrote about this topic in a previous blog post.