EPA Launches Climate Awards Program

Washington, DC – The Climate Registry (The Registry), the Pew Center on Global Climate Change (Pew Center) and the Association of Climate Change Officers (ACCO) announced that they will jointly sponsor a new national awards program with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to recognize exemplary corporate, organizational and individual leadership in response to climate change.

By showcasing voluntary action on climate and energy under a unified banner, EPA, The Registry, Pew Center and ACCO are sending a strong signal that innovative and sustained leadership in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) management will be recognized in the United States.

"The co-sponsorship of this new recognition opportunity reflects EPA’s commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) and recognizing leadership on climate change," said  EPA  Assistant Administrator Gina McCarthy. "We are pleased to be partnering with three non-profit organizations that have demonstrated expertise in GHG emissions management."

An event to honor award recipients will be held in early 2012. Specific award categories will include:

• Sustained Excellence in Public Reporting –Recognizing companies that continually raise the bar in the area of public disclosure of GHG emissions data. This would include regular public reporting and verification of corporate GHG inventories, GHG goal setting and achievement of GHG emissions reductions.
• Supply Chain Leadership –Recognizing companies that have their own comprehensive GHG inventories and emissions reduction goals and can demonstrate that they are at the leading edge of managing carbon in their supply chain.
• Organizational Leadership –Recognizing companies that have “mainstreamed” climate change across their operations and can demonstrate that they factor climate change into their business decisions.
• Individual Leadership –Recognizing individuals exemplifying extraordinary leadership in leading their organizations’ response to climate change and/or affecting the responses of other organizations.

These award categories provide a legacy for EPA’s Climate Leaders program, which provided support to private sector corporations who voluntarily set and achieved greenhouse gas reduction targets, and ACCO’s Climate Leadership Awards, which recognized exemplary leadership by organizations in industry, government, academia and the non-profit community.

“Corporate leadership is essential to advancing climate and energy solutions,” said Eileen Claussen, President of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. “In growing numbers, companies and their employees are working tirelessly in pursuit of cost-effective solutions that reduce carbon and benefit consumers. Recognizing these great accomplishments serves to motivate and accelerate efforts throughout the business community toward a cleaner, more efficient energy future."

“The Climate Registry is delighted to partner with EPA, the Pew Center and ACCO on this important program, which will build on the work of Climate Leaders as well as our own carbon management program,” said Denise Sheehan, Executive Director of The Climate Registry. “Together we look forward to continuing to provide the tools, resources and recognition that organizations need to take their climate and carbon leadership to the next level.”

"Amongst ACCO’s primary missions is bringing together climate executives from across sectors to collaborate and establish best practices," said Daniel Kreeger, ACCO's Executive Director.  "We look forward to undertaking such a timely and important effort with our partners - The Climate Registry and the Pew Center - who have been on the cutting edge of climate response, and of course EPA, whose Climate Protection Awards inspired ACCO’s 2010 Climate Leadership Awards program and whose Climate Leaders program has been so instrumental in driving climate response."

More information is available online at www.epa.gov/climateleaders. Additional information on the award categories and nomination process will be made publicly available in the next few weeks.

Turning brownfields into green

The province of British Columbia is dishing out $1 million to 12 brownfield projects in the western Canadian province. The cash outlay is the first major financing package of its recently formed Brownfield Renewal Strategy program. The BRS is providing up to $40,000 for preliminary site investigations and up to 85 percent of the costs for other types of work.

“The Brownfield Renewal Strategy program is focused on encouraging the redevelopment of under-used lands that have potential for community benefit,” said BC Agriculture and Lands Minister Steve Thomson. “The goal is for this funding to support the initial environmental work necessary to return these sites back into productive use. The program acts as an important catalyst for local economic growth, because for every dollar of government funding we put into these investigations, two dollars are invested by the successful applicants.”

With a scarcity of land in metropolitan areas brownfield properties are being eyed for urban renewal projects. Once deemed unpalatable to developers owing to their industrial lineage and potential site contamination, the costs associated with rehabilitating brownfield lands has dropped while the technology to clean up the lands has advanced.

Organizations such as the non-profit National Brownfield Association encourage the use of green design when developing brownfield sites. Headquartered in Chicago, the NBA acts as a resource center for public and private sector professionals in both Canada and the United States.

At the federal level in America the EPA has a brownfield website with information on how to access grants and funding, while reading up on applicable laws and statutes and success stories.

The EPA has recently provided federal stimulus funds to a number of communities nationwide from a pool of close to $7 million. The funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is intended to provide brownfield job training across the country. Tacoma, Washington received $500 000 this week to provide training for up to 200 interested job seekers.

“This brownfield job training program will put people to work in jobs that help clean up the environment and boost Tacoma’s economy,” said acting EPA regional administrator Michelle Pirzadeh.

Back in Canada, the province of BC will host the Canadian Brownfields 2009 Conference in Vancouver this fall. The October date marks the first time that the conference is being held outside of eastern Canada. The NBA's flagship "The Big Deal 2010" conference is headed to Atlanta in April.