Assistant Secretary of the Navy Dennis McGinn says that he and the Obama team are greening the US Navy and Marines Corps “not just because we’re closet tree-huggers or anything like that — we are –” but instead to field the most “capable Navy and Marine Corps team we possibly can”.
SECRETARY MCGINN: “It’s unfortunate that years ago energy was so politicized. But, I think we’re getting over that very, very quickly, and people are realizing that we’re doing this not just because we’re closet tree-huggers or anything like that — we are — but it is because we are in the business of fielding the most expeditionary capable Navy and Marine Corps team we possibly can, and that is an enduring principle.”
The US Navy & Cutting Edge Energy Innovation in the Defense Sector
Atlantic Council
April 12, 2016
SUNNYVALE, Calif. (AP) — The U.S. Navy on Tuesday became the first branch of the U.S. military — the world’s single-largest user of fossil fuels — to say it will start requiring big vendors to report their output of climate-changing greenhouse gases and work to lower it.
“We’ve got skin in this game,” Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told a Silicon Valley conference on tech, government and climate change, noting that the Navy is facing rising ocean levels and a surge of interest as ice melts in the Arctic.
The U.S. military has characterized climate change as a threat to national security since at least 2014, saying drought and other natural disasters can foster instability, conflict and extremism.
The move seeks to leverage the Navy’s $170 billion budget to encourage contractors to cut their overall output of climate-changing carbon.
The policy announced by Mabus did not immediately commit the Navy to cutting off companies with high emissions Companies and governments typically use such emissions reports as a factor in choosing suppliers
