Sustainability means strong finances, a clean environment, and healthy employees and communities. At GSA, sustainability is helping federal agencies meet their missions today, without sacrificing their ability to serve future generations.
With over 9600 federal assets under management, GSA paves the way in sustainable buildings for the government and private sector. From net-zero design, to green building certifications, to green roofs and advanced building technologies, we are proving every day that healthy and productive workplaces, a smaller environmental footprint, and reduced costs go hand in hand.
Awards & Certifications
Explore our properties that have received green building certifications and awards.
GSA Proving Ground
GSA Proving Ground evaluates pre- and early-commercial stage building technologies, accelerating the transition from bench-scale technology to commercial viability.
NetZero Design
By 2020, all new GSA buildings will be designed to achieve “net zero” energy, water and/or waste. Explore GSA and external resources related to net-zero design.
SFTool
SFTool shows you how to build, buy and operate green. Visit SFTool.gov, created by the GSA Office of Federal High-Performance Green Buildings.
Green Roofs
Green roofs slow stormwater runoff, provide excellent insulation, and reduce the “urban heat island” effect. Tour GSA’s extensive inventory of green roofs, including some of the largest in the U.S.
Sustainable Building Program Offices
A number of GSA program offices contribute to our green buildings work, including:
GSA acquisition solutions include a full menu of green products and sustainable services— helping agencies save time and money, while meeting sustainability and mission requirements.
Clean Energy Procurement
GSA strives to consume 100% renewable electricity by 2025. We are also using our power market expertise to help other federal agencies meet their renewable power goals. GSA is teaming up with other agencies to buy and install both grid-based and on-site renewable power.
Green IT
Achieve your agency’s electronics stewardship goals with GSA’s offerings of electronic and telecommunications products and services that save energy, reduce e-waste, and optimize performance.
Green Procurement Compilation
Use the Green Purchasing Compilation on SFTool.gov to identify federal green purchasing requirements, review sample solicitation language, and learn where to buy compliant products. Agencies can create custom pages with shortcuts to frequently used products.
Buy Green Services
GSA works with service contractors of all types to incorporate green products and practices into their offerings. We also offer a wide array of solutions to directly address environmental issues, such as waste management and energy metering services.
Buy Green Products
GSA helps customer agencies meet environmental requirements by offering thousands of green products through GSA Advantage’s Environment Aisle and GSA Global Supply.
GSA manages over 200,000 vehicles on behalf of over 50 Federal agencies — the second largest non-tactical fleet in the US Government. From alternative fuels, to electric vehicles, to car sharing, GSA is leading the way in Federal fleet innovation.
Buy Green Vehicles
GSA Fleet offers thousands of low-cost, high-efficiency vehicle options to help Federal agencies meet their missions sustainably.
Alternative Fuel Vehicle Selection
GSA offers more than 1,500 models of alternative fuel vehicles with a variety of fueling systems, from hybrid sedans to bi-fuel CNG pickup trucks.
Electric Vehicle Pilots
GSA has incorporated over 300 all-electric vehicles and 169 charging stations (and counting) into Federal fleets.
Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Resources
Learn more about AFVs and download GSA’s AFV Acquisition Tool to compare AFV options by size, price, fuel, availability, CO2 grams per mile, and lifetime GHG emissions.
Short Term Rental Program
GSA helps agencies reduce their fleet size, increase utilization, and simplify procurement with cost-effective short term rental solutions.
Car Sharing Pilot Programs
GSA is testing car-sharing technologies and services to determine their effectiveness in the Federal fleet context.
GSA is creating a 21st century workplace to support wellness, drive down costs, and increase productivity. We help other agencies create a new model of the federal workplace.
Total Workplace
Total Workplace is GSA’s integrated approach to sustainable design, flexible workspace, and office technology. To date, Total Workplace has helped agencies save over $70 million while reducing space, cutting carbon, and supporting productivity.
Fitwel
How can a building promote health and wellness? We are partnering with New York City’s Health Department and Active Design Program, and the US Health and Human Services to develop FITWEL, a voluntary building certification program designed to promote wellness through design, air quality, healthy food options, and exercise opportunities.
Telework
A successful telework strategy allows employees to work productively away from the traditional office. Learn about GSA’s telework projects and see how they can apply to your agency’s workforce.
Case Studies
Visit SFTool.gov to learn how GSA offices across the country have designed workplaces to foster community, comfort, health, and a sense of place.
GSA works together with industry partners and other agencies to translate sustainability policy into action.
Greening the Supply Chain
Executive Order 13693, Planning for Federal Sustainability in the Next Decade, requires agencies to work with suppliers to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Adopting commercial practices for managing supply chain emissions through supplier engagement can encourage efficiency and reduce costs and risks for agencies and industry alike.
Green Building Advisory Committee
The GSA’s Office of Federal High-Performance Green Buildings established the Green Building Advisory Committee (GBAC) to provide them with advice and recommendations. GBAC’s membership reflects a broad range of stakeholders including senior officials from federal agencies as well as leading green building experts from state, local, private, non-governmental, and academic sectors.
Green Buildings Certification System Review
Every five years, GSA evaluates green building certification programs to determine the system(s) to be used across the federal government. To make this evaluation, GSA includes input from agencies, the public, and the private sector. The most recent review was completed in 2012. GSA continues to solicit input through the next review cycle in 2017.
Electronics Stewardship
USPS Blue Earth Program
A group of federal recycling programs, USPS BlueEarth is coordinated by the US Postal Service® to support sustainability initiatives. These initiatives assist in helping federal agencies and their employees properly dispose of items like empty ink cartridges and unwanted small electronics.
Executive Orders and Statutes:
Executive Order 13693
Visit the SFTool.gov enriched version of the executive order, which includes “hot annotations” such as elaborations on policy, explanatory texts, and links to resources.
How we reach our sustainability goals.
Strategic Sustainability Performance Plan
Sustainability/Energy
We have demonstrated that “Going Green Saves Green” through the savings and efficiencies generated by its sustainability initiatives.
Climate Change Risk Management Plan
How we incorporate climate change planning into our strategic approach for enterprise risk management.
January 2015 OMB Scorecard on Sustainability/Energy
Our most recent scorecard reports that the agency is on track to achieve our proposed goals for:
- Buildings Meeting Guiding Principles
- Use of Renewable Energy
- Reduction in Fleet Petroleum Use
- Scope 1&2 GHG Emissions
- Scope 3 GHG Emission Reduction
- Reduction in Energy Intensity
- Reduction in Potable Water Intensity
An Excel spreadsheet of GSA's Sustainability scorecard data is also available for direct download: Public GSA Sustainability Scorecard Data [XLSX - 50.25 KB]
Kevin Kampschroer
Senior Sustainability Officer
Contact: sustainability@gsa.gov