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Progress to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions Achieved by Climate Leaders Partnership- Voluntary Partnership Expands; Greater Emission Reductions Will Be Achieved

Release Date: 06/11/2003
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(06/11/03) EPA Administrator Christie Whitman today praised fourteen companies for their commitments to develop long-term comprehensive climate change strategies, and recognized valuable progress in voluntary industry-government partnerships. In a ceremony that took place in Washington, D.C., Whitman celebrated the progress of EPA’s innovative Climate Leaders program, a key component of the Bush Administration’s climate change policy launched in Spring 2002.

“The corporate pledges by our climate leaders partners will provide big dividends for our environment and the economy,” said EPA Administrator Whitman. “This voluntary industry-government partnership requires serious thought and discipline to stay on schedule to make these reductions. In under two years, this partnership program has expanded to include 41 businesses that have pledged to lower greenhouse gas emissions.”

Climate Leaders challenges businesses to develop a comprehensive greenhouse gas emissions inventory for their activities and to set aggressive, long-term emissions reduction goals. Compared to the expected rate of improvement in their industry sector, partners in Climate Leaders will prevent a total of 125 billion pounds of carbon dioxide emissions – equivalent to the emissions from about 3 million automobiles in a year – through commitments announced to date.

Whitman applauded three current Climate Leaders Partners for setting new reduction goals and recognized eleven companies for joining the program. The three new reduction goals are:

• Pfizer Inc., New York, N.Y., pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 35 percent per dollar of revenue from 2000 to 2007.
• St. Lawrence Cement, Montreal, Ontario, pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent per ton of cementitious (having characteristics of cement) product from 2000 to 2010.
• Johnson & Johnson, New Brunswick, N.J., pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by a total of 14 percent from 2001 to 2010.

Miller Brewing and General Motors were the first companies in the program to set reduction goals in March 2002.

The eleven new Climate Leaders Partners are: Baltimore Air Coil, Chicago, Ill.; Bank of America, Charlotte, N.C.; Exelon Corporation, Chicago Ill.; Fetzer Vineyards, Hopland, Calif.; La Farge North America, Herndon, Va.; Raytheon, Lexington, Mass.; Staples, Inc., Framingham, Mass.; Sun Microsystems, Santa Clara, Calif.; Unilever HPC, Greenwich, Conn.; United States Steel Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pa.; and United Technologies Corporation, Hartford, Conn.

Partner companies report emissions of the six major greenhouse gases from all major on-site emissions of greenhouse gases and emissions related to the electricity they purchase. Companies may also report emissions and reductions from a number of other activities including investments in offset projects. The Climate Leaders Protocol is based on an existing protocol developed by the World Resources Institute and World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

After partners complete their greenhouse gas inventory, EPA works closely with them to develop a customized emissions reduction target. These targets must be aggressive long-term targets that exceed business-as-usual performance for the partner's industry sector. More information on EPA’s Climate Leaders program is available at: https://www.epa.gov/climateleaders/.