Environmental Management Systems (EMS) is the primary management approach to determining, prioritizing, implementing, and improving upon those environmental issues that will lead to sustainable environmental stewardship. The primary vehicle to implement this mission is Executive Order (EO) 13423, “Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management.” This EO integrates a series of sustainable practices under one common vision for the Federal government. The Department of Energy and EPA are the lead agencies for energy efficiency, renewable energy, water conservation, and fleet environmental and energy issues.

The genesis of the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive lies in the issue of resource conservation. The federal government’s history of promoting conservation by recycling extends back to World War II with the War Production Board’s call to Americans to save scrap metal. The last three decades, however, have seen an increased attention to promoting energy conservation and recycling across America, as well as within the Federal government.

In 1976, Congress passed, and President Ford signed the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act which requires agencies to develop affirmative procurement programs to purchase EPA-designated recycled content products to create and sustain markets for recycled materials recycled, as well as industrial by-products that otherwise would be land-filled.

In 1991, President George H.W. Bush issued the Federal Agency Recycling and the Council on Federal Recycling and Procurement Policy, creating the Federal Recycling Coordinator, the Council on Federal Recycling and Procurement Policy, and agency recycling coordinators within each of the major agencies. President Clinton’s 1993 EO 12873, Federal Acquisition, Waste Prevention, and Recycling, created the position of the Federal Environmental Executive, as well as Agency Environmental Executives. This order also set the standard that all federal office paper is to contain at least 30 percent postconsumer recycled content.

 Fran McPoland was the first Federal Environmental Executive. In 1998, EO 13101, Greening the Government Through Waste Prevention, Recycling and Federal Acquisition created the White House Task Force on Waste Prevention and Recycling. President Bush appointed John Howard, Jr. as the Federal Environmental Executive, followed by Edwin Piñero in 2004.

Joseph Cascio is the current Federal Environmental Executive and has over 26 years experience in environmental management and public policy development; he was previously a consultant, developing and implementing environmental management systems. He chaired the US Technical Advisory Group on the ISO-14000 series of standards and was the lead US negotiator on the international technical committee of ISO. As the co-author of The ISO 14000 Guide, he is recognized as an expert on environmental management and as the key architect of the US posture on the ISO-14000 series of standards.

President Bush’s EO 13423, Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy and Transportation Management builds on the federal government’s success in increasing energy and water efficiency, purchasing green products, using renewable energy, building green buildings, managing electronics, using alternative fuel vehicles and alternative fuels and reducing the use of toxic and hazardous chemicals. It consolidates all these issues and provides a holistic approach to implementing these programs.