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Artesian OP t1_ivuv5vs wrote

Reply to comment by sanjsrik in Federal contractors / companies must disclose climate impact under new legislation. A huge step toward forcing big companies to green up their acts. by Artesian

Running carbon accounting for their various projects is something that absolutely is already on the radar for many companies. Life cycle assessments are one tool used for exactly this purpose.

The government can then pick and choose vendors for various projects based on who is most sustainable / environmentally responsible. And they already do some of this, but not nearly enough.

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GFere t1_ivwldk0 wrote

won't this make contracts more expensive?

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MoiMagnus t1_ivxk9di wrote

Yes, but that's kind of unavoidable. Regulations make things more expensive.

On the other hand, if those regulations are actually effective (which I don't have the expertise to judge) and, for example, manage to delay by a little bit some negative climate effects, then it can still be cost-effective.

Climate change and pollution are expensive to the society. From increased natural disasters to public health issues, or disruption to international diplomacy (hence military costs), we always pay for it one way or another.

(It's just that it's difficult to make the actual computations, since the pollution from a single public contract is quite negligible compared to total human pollution, but the increase in costs is also quite negligible compared to the total cost of climate change)

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