President Barack Obama on Friday announced several climate and energy initiatives at Walmart in Mountain View, Calif., that he says will cut carbon pollution and create jobs.
These include commitments from more than 300 organizations and companies including Walmart, Home Depot, Ikea, Yahoo and Google that represent more than 850MW of solar deployed as well as energy efficiency investments that will lower bills for more than 1 billion square feet of buildings.
Additionally, the president announced new executive actions that he says will lead to $2 billion in energy efficiency investments in federal buildings; smarter appliances that will cut carbon pollution by more than 380 million metric tons and will save businesses nearly $26 billion on their energy bills; and training programs at community colleges across the country that will assist 50,000 workers to enter the solar industry by 2020.
The executive actions are the latest initiatives in the Obama administration’s ongoing climate efforts, which include setting emissions limits for power plants and new efficiency standards for trucks. They follow a study released last week by the White House that says the US is already experiencing the effects of climate change, which will continue to cause mounting economic damages as droughts intensify, flooding increases and heat waves and forest fires become more frequent.
Also at the event with Obama, Walmart announced that it will double the number of on-site solar energy projects at its US stores, Sam’s Clubs and distribution centers by 2020. The commitment is part of Walmart’s global initiative to drive the production or procurement of 7 billion kWh of renewable energy by the end of 2020.