Clinton Climate Initiative to Pool Largest Private-Sector and Largest Public-Sector Purchasing of Green Technologies in the World

November 1, 2007
Seattle, WA

President Bill Clinton today announced two new partnerships to make green products more affordable and accessible to city governments and consumers across the United States. In response to growing demand, CCI will extend its programs and purchasing consortium, which offers lower-cost green products, to all 1,100 cities in the US Conference of Mayors. CCI will also work alongside Wal-Mart to drive down the cost of energy-efficient and clean-energy technologies.

“Climate change is a global issue that we must address immediately if we are to reverse its catastrophic effects,” said President Clinton. “I am pleased that the US Conference of Mayors, Wal-Mart and many businesses are working with my foundation to supply energy-efficient and clean-energy products. By offering these products at a discounted rate, we can ensure that more cities and citizens have access to them and that the market for clean-energy technology will grow. Together, I hope that we can have a measurable impact on greenhouse gas emissions around the world.”

Through CCI’s new partnership with the US Conference of Mayors, an additional 1,100 U.S. cities will gain access to volume discounts on energy-efficient and clean-energy products and technologies through CCI’s purchasing consortium. These benefits were previously available only to the C40 Large Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40), a group of 40 of the world’s largest cities that are working in concert to fight climate change.

“We are very honored to partner with President Clinton’s Climate Initiative, because this will provide heightened opportunities to green our cities and curb global warming in America,” said Conference President Trenton Mayor Doug Palmer. “Mayors are considering every possible action to utilize clean technologies and promote more efficient energy use to reverse the negative effects of climate change in cities. This new partnership will take our collective efforts to the next level.”

CCI’s purchasing consortium has negotiated discounted pricing agreements with 25 manufacturers of energy-efficient products, including indoor lighting, clean vehicles, traffic and street lighting, building products, advanced waste management technologies, water system components and alternative energy technologies. As a result, participating cities will have access to hundreds of individual products that reduce energy consumption in buildings, decrease fuel consumption and pollution by vehicles and capture and convert landfill methane into electricity. These and additional products will be offered to interested municipal governments at discounted prices ranging from 5 to 15 percent below current levels for commodity items and from 15 to 70 percent below current levels for non-commodity items.

The product suppliers include:

• Lighting - GE, Philips Lighting, Cooper Lighting, Lemnis Lighting, Osram, Sylvania, Acuity Lighting, Dialight, and Leotek
• Buildings - 3M Company, Solar Gard, Tremco, BASF Polyurethane Foam Enterprises, Optimum Energy
• Transportation - Scania, UTC Power, Ballard Power Systems, ISE Corporation, Siemens, Dynetek, EDrive, A123 Systems, Maxwell Technologies, and VOLVO
• Waste - GE Jenbacher

As one of the largest private sector purchasers of green technologies in the world, Wal-Mart is uniquely positioned to join with CCI in helping cities to buy green. CCI and Wal-Mart will use their combined purchasing resources to further drive down the prices of green technologies. Additionally, CCI and Wal-Mart will work together to identify and examine new energy efficient products, such as LED parking lot lights and best-in-class HVAC systems, and new methods to procure and utilize clean energy, such as solar power.

“This shows what can be achieved when business, government and the non-profit sector work together on some of the biggest challenges facing the world today,” said Lee Scott, president and CEO of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. “By combining our resources, we can help drive innovation, create new technology markets and ultimately reduce this country's dependence on foreign oil.”

About the Clinton Climate Initiative

Building on his long-term commitment to preserving the environment, President Clinton launched the Clinton Foundation’s Climate Initiative in August 2006 with the mission of applying the Foundation’s business-oriented approach to the fight against climate change in practical, measurable and significant ways. In its first phase, CCI is working with cities around the world to accelerate efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Municipal governments are well-positioned to make a major impact on the global market for green technologies. Cities across America purchase lighting, HVAC systems, windows, insulation, roofing and other building materials and systems for thousands of buildings, such as schools, hospitals, and police stations. Cities also buy and operate fleets of vehicles and operate their own waste and water systems. Through CCI’s partnership with the US Conference of Mayors and the C40, cities inside and outside the US are able to pioneer energy-efficient and clean-energy products and technologies. This collective effort can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate climate change on a large and measurable scale.

In May 2007, President Clinton announced the creation of a global Energy Efficiency Building Retrofit Program, a project of the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI). This program brings together eight of the world’s largest energy service companies (ESCOs), five of the world’s largest banks, and seventeen of the world’s largest cities in a landmark program designed to reduce energy consumption in existing buildings. The program provides both cities and their private building owners with access to the necessary funds to retrofit existing buildings with more energy efficient products, typically leading to energy savings between 20 to 50 percent.

The C40 Large Cities Climate Leadership Group is comprised of the following cities: Addis Ababa, Athens, Bangkok, Beijing, Berlin, Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Caracas, Chicago, Delhi NCT, Dhaka, Hanoi, Hong Kong, Houston, Istanbul, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Karachi, Lagos, Lima, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Melbourne, Mexico City, Moscow, Mumbai, New York, Paris, Philadelphia, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto and Warsaw.

Read more information on the Clinton Climate Initiative.