Climate Counts Launches Industry Innovators, Leading Businesses Stand Up to Be “Counted” on Climate

(3BLMedia/theCSRfeed) MANCHESTER, NH –February 24, 2010 - Today Climate Counts launched its Industry Innovators (i2) project and announced the six charter member companies. Climate Counts created i2 to help companies investing in real climate solutions deepen their market impact. The six charter companies — Amtrak, Ben & Jerry’s, Clif Bar, Recreational Equipment, Inc., Shaklee, and Timberland — each chose to go through the rigorous Climate Counts i2 scoring process, used to track the climate performance of nearly 150 other well-known companies since 2007. Each charter member earned Climate Counts’ top designation.  

“The charter i2 companies are stepping up to be counted and are taking an honest look at how they can be leaders in solving the climate crisis. True climate solutions that can also boost the economy and our jobs outlook demand innovation and action from businesses, and our charter companies have shown they are committed to making climate action a competitive advantage,” said Climate Counts Executive Director Wood Turner.   i2 extends the scope of Climate Counts to track businesses not currently ranked in its annual scores. The Climate Counts scoring ranks companies on criteria in four key areas — (1) measurement of climate impact; (2) reduction of climate impact; (3) support for public policy that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions; and (4) external transparency and clarity on climate actions — to spur greater corporate climate responsibility. The non-profit group was launched over three years ago with support from organics pioneer Stonyfield Farm and its CEO Gary Hirshberg.                                                                                             With the launch of i2, Climate Counts also rolls out a companion website to its ClimateCounts.org site: i2.climatecounts.org. Companies interested in getting a Climate Counts company benchmark can use the i2 site go through a process of self-evaluation and follow it by requesting Climate Counts’ own review of the company to determine a final, public score.   “The beauty of our i2 program is that it can apply to companies at any stage of corporate climate leadership,” said Turner. “Companies at an early stage of addressing climate can use the scoring process to get a roadmap for the work ahead, while others may want a score to communicate with consumers and stakeholders about how they’ve innovated to save money and fight climate change.”   “Climate Counts has proven effective at motivating truly innovative companies to become climate leaders,” added Hirshberg. “I’m thrilled to see such a strong and varied group of American companies work so hard to make climate protection a business strategy. They’re the leaders any forward-thinking company would want to emulate.”   ### i2 charter company quotes   "Amtrak has a mission of ‘Safer, Greener, Healthier,’ and we are pleased that Climate Counts is recognizing our greenhouse gas reduction efforts. Passenger rail travel has many components that make it energy and environmentally efficient. We used these factors as a springboard to ‘green’ Amtrak using new technologies and management actions along with national policy support for more rail routes." Joseph Boardman, President and CEO, Amtrak   "Amtrak agreed to voluntarily reduce greenhouse gas emissions from diesel locomotives by 6 percent from 2003 to 2010 (1998-2001 baseline) as a charter member of the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX). We are meeting this reduction schedule and learned how to use some newer engine technologies and operating practices to make (and exceed) our reduction commitment. There are now ongoing initiatives at Amtrak to trial alternative fuels, use wind and solar energy for signal and yard operations and purchase new, even more efficient, locomotives." Roy Deitchman, Vice President of EHS, Amtrak   "We believe business has a responsibility -- not only to be a part of meaningful climate solutions, but also to communicate their efforts transparently to stakeholders. We're honored to be among the charter companies for Climate Counts' Industry Innovators project because we believe it seeks to establish corporate environmental accountability which leads, importantly, to climate action." Jeff Swartz, CEO, Timberland   “Being evaluated through Climate Counts i2 program helped us look at our climate program from a different point of view. While we are pleased with our results, a different perspective is always helpful to raise the bar and to improve. We're pleased to be one of the charter companies in the program.” Andrea Asch, Environmental Manager, Ben & Jerry’s   “Shaklee is committed to making people and the planet healthier – values that are more relevant now than ever before. Understanding and reducing our climate impacts helps us to fulfill this legacy. We are proud to be a charter member of i2 and hope to inspire other companies to understand and address their climate impacts.” Roger Barnett, Chairman and CEO, Shaklee Corporation   “The Climate Counts scorecard provides a continuous improvement process and is a useful tool in identifying next steps on the climate action continuum. While we have tracked our climate impacts since 2000, making our emissions data and reductions efforts transparent will continue to help us improve our own performance while also serving to raise awareness about and grow markets for innovative solutions to climate change.”   Jil Zilligen, Chief Sustainability Officer, Shaklee Corporation    “At REI, we’re looking for business-based solutions where our financial performance and social/environmental benefits are mutually reinforcing. We find that when we look at environmental metrics, we identify new opportunities and risks. In many ways we’re just getting started, but we’ve already seen real business benefits.  Pursuing our aspiration of being climate neutral is helping us deliver on the expectation of both financial and environmental performance for our co-op members.” Kevin Hagen, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility, REI   "At Clif Bar & Company, addressing global warming has always been a top priority in our sustainability program. As a company run by people who love the outdoors, global warming threatens the places we care about most deeply.”  Gary Erickson, Founder and Co-owner, Clif Bar & Company    About Climate Counts Climate Counts is a non-profit organization bringing consumers and companies together in the fight against global climate change. Launched with financial support from organics pioneer Stonyfield Farm, the Climate Counts Company Scorecard was developed with oversight from a panel of business and climate experts from leading non-governmental organizations and academic institutions. Criteria were chosen for their effectiveness at accomplishing a single goal – solving the global climate crisis. Since 2007, Climate Counts researchers have used these criteria to rate the climate actions of nearly 150 companies (representing approximately 3,000 brands) in 16 industry sectors. Companies are given the opportunity to confirm or provide public data sources. Information on all scored companies is available at www.climatecounts.org and via the free Climate Counts iPhone app.   CC5047