CDP works to create Climate Adaption Initiative

The Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP) is continuing to reduce energy consumption on its campus and promote sustainable energy conservation practices among members of its workforce.

Its Climate Adaptation Initiative efforts support FEMA’s strategic goal related to climate resilience, which says the agency will increase ‘climate literacy’ of the emergency management community and lead a ‘whole of community’ effort to build a climate resilient nation.

Among other things, the initiative aims to reduce the CDP’s carbon footprint by 50 percent in the next three years.

To help meet that goal, the CDP is transitioning from gas-powered to battery-operate tools in several of its training activities.

It already took a big leap toward meeting that goal earlier this year when it continued the maximum use of telework for members of its federal workforce. This reduced the workforce’s commute time to and from the center by 24,996 hours a year, which eliminated an estimated 295 metric tons of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere.

It is also studying the feasibility of transitioning its fleet of vehicles to electric vehicles and researching the possibility of acquiring charging ports to encourage employees to purchase and drive electric vehicles.

Meanwhile, LED lighting continues to be installed in all CDP facilities and solar lighting has been put in the parking area adjacent to the CDP’s COBRA (Chemical, Ordnance, Biological and Radiological) Training Facility.

Additionally, all new construction projects on campus are aligned to the FEMA Office of the Chief Administrative Officer and the Council on Environmental Quality’s Guiding Principles for Sustainable Federal Buildings.

During 2021, the CDP added 292,812 square feet of high-performance sustainable building space to its inventory. It projects to add an additional 237,218 square feet over the next three to five years.