Major Corporations Pledge Greenhouse Gas Reduction

Washington, DC, Jan. 13--3M, International Paper, and Interface are among ten corporations announcing targets today to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under EPA's 'Climate Leaders'--a voluntary program that works with companies to measure greenhouse gas emissions and set aggressive, long-term emissions reduction goals. The program also added 13 new companies--Caterpillar, Gap, Frito-Lay and Xerox among them. In its two years, Climate Leaders has grown to include 54 corporations whose revenues add up to more than six percent of the United States' gross domestic product. With today's announcements, 20 of the 54 companies in Climate Leaders have set emissions reduction goals, which EPA estimates will prevent a total of 7.5 million metric tons of carbon equivalent per year. These reductions go beyond the expected rate of improvement in their respective industry sectors and are equal to the greenhouse gas emissions of five million cars per year. Among the ten new reduction goals are: --3M of St. Paul, MN pledged to reduce total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent from 2002 to 2007. --Interface, Inc. of Atlanta, GA pledged to reduce its U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent per unit of production from 2001-2010. The thirteen new Climate Leaders Partners are: 3M Company, St. Paul, MN; American Electric Power, Columbus, OH; Calpine Corporation, San Jose, CA, Caterpillar Inc., Peoria, IL; The Collins Companies, Portland, OR; Frito-Lay, Plano, TX; Gap Inc., San Francisco, CA; NiSource Inc, Merrillville, IN; Polaroid Corporation, Waltham, MA; Praxair, Inc., Danbury, CT; Roche Group, Basel, Switzerland; Tenneco Automotive, Lake Forest, IL; and Xerox Corporation, Stamford, CT. 3M and American Electric Power announced both their membership in Climate Leaders and their greenhouse gas reduction goals today. Working with EPA, the remaining companies will complete their greenhouse gas inventories and develop emissions reduction targets. These targets must be aggressive, long-term, and exceed business-as-usual performance for the partner's industry sector. 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.