The Foreign Service Journal, October 2021

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | OCTOBER 2021 41 tion Grant projects over the last three years, supported by the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations. In Panama City, the embassy used the grant to install a rainwater harvesting system to reduce their daily water consumption by 4 percent. These projects helped to enhance readiness and adapt to local climate effects on operations. Green Teams, and senior- level support for their efforts, will continue to be a key compo- nent in identifying regionally and locally important mitigation and adaptation activities to drive and amplify action. Engaging International Partners With more than 85 percent of GHG emissions coming from outside the United States, engagement with our international partners is vital. Limiting the global average temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius requires every country to commit to ambitious action, especially national governments, whose operations often have the largest workforce, fleet and real prop- erty footprint in a given country. Through the Greening Government Initiative, a new program launched this year and led jointly by the U.S. and Canada, the State Department will support White House efforts to create a community of practice aiming to green national governments’ operations. This initiative will enable countries worldwide to broadly share lessons learned, promote innovation and, where relevant and possible, set common goals to support the work underway by countries to meet their commitments under the Paris Agreement. We will also work with diplomatic partners to advance the Eco-Capitals Forum, an avenue for diplomatic missions to support the sustainability goals of host and local governments. These forums leverage the vast footprint of the diplomatic com- munity to share best practices, create markets for sustainable products and services, and promote cooperation on a local level. In 2018, the D.C. Eco-Capitals Forum worked with the private sector to collect individual embassies’ energy demands to cre- ate a new solar project in the region. By creating a joint project, embassies were able to access renewable electricity at lower costs. The project advances sustainability goals of the District of Columbia and participating foreign nations, and serves as a model that can be replicated in other countries. Working with the interagency will be a key component of ensuring the State Department is maximizing the full breadth of Ambassadors, diplomatic officials and Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra, eighth from left, pose on stage with joined hands at the launching of the Eco-Capitals Forum in 2016. U.S.EMBASSYBANGKOK