AGs of 22 states warn White House it has 'no authority' to make climate rules via procurement system

The attorneys general of nearly two dozen U.S. states are warning the Biden administration that it cannot use the federal purchasing system as a means to enforce climate change policy. 

The AGs in a letter to the Department of Defense this week said the White House is seeking to use the federal procurement system "to implement the President’s climate-change policies."

The disputed policy in question, implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council, "requires certain contractors to disclose their [greenhouse gas] emissions, requires those contractors to set targets to reduce emissions, and requires that such targets be determined by what “the latest climate science deems necessary to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement."

"The executive branch has no authority to address climate change in this way," the letter states. arguing that the council's authority over the procurement system "is not the power to confront major political and economic questions like climate change."

The attorneys general in the letter request that the rule be withdrawn.