New National Program will Recognize
Corporate, Organizational,
and Individual Leadership on
Climate Change
SEPTEMBER 15, 2011 – WASHINGTON, DC –
Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in
partnership with The Climate Registry (The Registry), the
Pew Center on Global Climate Change (Pew Center), and the
Association of Climate Change Officers (ACCO), announced
that the nomination period is open for the new Climate
Leadership Awards.
The Climate Leadership Awards will support a legacy for
EPA’s Climate Leaders program and will recognize exemplary
corporate, organizational, and individual leadership in
response to climate change. Nominations are due no later
than October 14, 2011.
"With the creation of the Climate Leadership
Awards, EPA is pleased to be joining with these exemplary
organizations in recognizing extraordinary leadership in the
reduction of greenhouse gases (GHG) in response to climate
change," said Elizabeth Craig, EPA’s Acting Director of the
Office of Atmospheric Programs.
Detailed criteria and the nomination forms
for each of the five recognition categories are available
online at
www.epa.gov/climateleaders/awards/index.html. The
categories are:
-
Excellence in GHG Management (Goal
Setting Certificate)
Recognizing organizations that publicly report and
verify corporate GHG inventories and publicly set
aggressive absolute GHG emissions reduction goals.
-
Excellence in GHG Management (Goal
Achievement Award)
Recognizing organizations that publicly report and
verify corporate GHG inventories and achieve aggressive
absolute GHG emissions reduction goals.
-
Supply Chain Leadership Award
Recognizing organizations that have their own
comprehensive GHG inventories and emissions reduction
goals and can demonstrate they are at the leading edge
of managing GHGs in their organizational value chains.
-
Organizational Leadership Award
Recognizing organizations that exemplify leadership
both in their internal response to climate change and
through engagement of their peers, competitors,
partners, and value chain.
-
Individual Leadership Award
Recognizing individuals exemplifying extraordinary
leadership in leading their organizations’ response to
climate change and/or affecting the responses of other
organizations.
Businesses with annual revenues over $100
million and governmental entities and academic organizations
with annual budgets over $100 million are eligible for
nomination in the first four recognition categories. In
addition to meeting other criteria, nominees must be able to
demonstrate that the bulk of their GHG management activities
and achievements have occurred within the United States. In
the case of the individual leadership award category,
nominees must be employees of organizations that are
eligible for the other categories and must reside within the
United States.
The
Climate Leadership Awards are designed to motivate,
highlight and recognize actions that go beyond business as
usual in the management and reduction of GHG emissions both
in internal operations and throughout the supply chain.
Together, the award winners will illustrate how leadership
in the public and private sectors can help make the United
States a more sustainable, low-carbon society.
Corporations, organizations, and individuals
may self-nominate or nominate others for a Climate
Leadership Award. Entrants may be nominated for multiple
awards. Each category requires a separate submission. EPA
and the NGO partners will hold a webinar at 10am PT/1pm ET
on September 15, 2011 to discuss the award criteria,
nomination process, and answer questions.
More information about the awards and next
week’s informational webinar is available at the EPA’s
Climate Leadership Awards web page,
http://www.epa.gov/climateleaders/awards/index.html.
An event to honor award recipients will take
place on the evening of February 29, 2012 in Fort
Lauderdale, Florida, in conjunction with the first annual
Climate Leadership Conference, which will be held from
February 29-March 1, 2012. The conference will feature
thought leaders from the public and private sectors who will
share key insights and innovative ideas on topics related to
the awards such as: energy efficiency, clean energy, setting
and achieving GHG reduction goals, engaging supply chains,
addressing climate risks, and other practical applications
for managing and reducing emissions. Conference details will
be regularly updated at
www.climateleadershipconference.org.
About The Climate Registry
The Climate Registry provides organizations
with hands-on, personalized service and resources to help
them measure, verify, report and manage their GHG emissions
in a publicly transparent and credible way. The Registry was
established in 2007 as a 501 (c)(3) by US states and
Canadian provinces and today is governed by a Board of
Directors comprised of senior officials from 40 US states,
the District of Columbia, 13 Canadian provinces and
territories, six Mexican states and four Native Sovereign
Nations. The Registry has more than 430 members who use The
Registry’s services to measure and manage their emissions,
as well as share policy information and best practices in
carbon management. For more information see
www.theclimateregistry.org.
About the Pew Center on Global Climate
Change
The Pew Center on Global Climate Change
(“Pew Center”;
www.pewclimate.org) is a 501(c)(3) organization that
operates under the legal umbrella Strategies for the Global
Environment. Formed in 1998, the Pew Center is an
internationally recognized pragmatic voice offering credible
information and analysis, straight answers, and innovative
solutions in the effort to address global climate change. In
a highly polarized, controversial and politicized arena, the
Pew Center provides a non-partisan forum for constructive
engagement between business leaders, policy makers,
scientists, and other experts.
About the Association of Climate Change
Officers
The Association of Climate Change Officers
is a 501(c)(6) non-profit membership organization for
executives and officials worldwide in industry, government,
academia and the non-profit community. ACCO’s mission is to
advance the knowledge and skills of those dedicated to
developing and directing climate change strategies in the
public and private sectors, and to establish a flexible and
robust forum for collaboration between climate change
officers. For more information about ACCO, please visit
www.ACCOonline.org.
# # #
