Comunicados de Prensa
Release Date: 28 de junio, 2007
Contact: Mariana Hernandez (415) 972-5966
PG&E lanza el primer programa voluntario para proteger el medio ambiente, el Programa ClimateSmart™
- PG&E es la primera compañia en comprometerse
- First to Sign-up with a $1.5 Million Shareholder Commitment
- Opens Competitive Selection Process for Voluntary Offsets
- Now available to all PG&E residential and business customers
SAN FRANCISCO – Joined by customers, environmental leaders, and policymakers, Pacific Gas and Electric Company today announced the launch of ClimateSmart™ – an innovative voluntary program that will provide customers the option to neutralize greenhouse gas emissions associated with their energy use. As part of the program’s launch, the company opened a competitive process to solicit offers for California-based offset projects that meet stringent criteria and protocols developed by the California Climate Action Registry. Customers can now sign-up by visiting www.pge.com/climatesmart.
“The launch of ClimateSmart represents a major milestone in educating and engaging our customers in the fight against climate change,” said Tom King, CEO of PG&E. “When coupled with our clean energy portfolio and leading energy efficiency programs, ClimateSmart empowers our customers with another tool to manage their carbon footprint.”
Approved by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), ClimateSmart allows PG&E residential and business customers to sign up voluntarily and pay a separate amount on their monthly utility bill based on energy usage, which will fund environmental projects aimed at removing greenhouse gases (GHG) from the air or avoiding the emissions in the first place. The amount removed or avoided will equal the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) associated with the customer’s energy use, thus making them “climate neutral.”
Once a customer enrolls, PG&E will calculate exactly how many pounds of greenhouse gas emissions the customer’s electricity and natural gas usage produces. The customer will pay a monthly amount as determined by their calculated CO2 emissions. PG&E estimates that the cost, for the average residential customer who chooses to enroll, would be less than $5 per month. Prior to enrolling, all PG&E customers can view an estimate of their carbon emissions via a new carbon footprint calculator on PG&E’s ClimateSmart Web site.
"We can prevent the most devastating consequences of global warming, but only if we act swiftly and decisively to reduce global warming emissions," said Karen Douglas, director of the California Climate Initiative of Environmental Defense. "By meeting strict standards for offsets, the ClimateSmart program will engage individuals and businesses as part of the solution in the fight on global warming."
PG&E Joins Customers
PG&E has enrolled as the first participant in ClimateSmart by committing more than $1.5 million of shareholder funding over the next three years to make the energy use in the company’s offices, service centers, maintenance facilities, and other company buildings completely climate neutral. To date, over 700 PG&E employees and residential and business customers have joined ClimateSmart via an early enrollment period. Customers include Longs Drugs Stores, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, New Resource Bank, Bear Valley Mountain Resort, Waldeck’s Office Supply, Front Porch Caribbean-inspired restaurant, and the Grammys’ San Francisco office.
The company anticipates that ClimateSmart will receive approximately $20 million in its first three years, with a goal of removing two million tons of CO2 from the air. This reduction would be the equivalent of taking 350,000 cars off the road for one year.
“Through our commitment to sustainability, we have taken a number of steps to become carbon neutral by implementing energy efficiency around the brewery, installing four 250 kilowatt fuel cells, and a 500 kilowatt solar array,” said Ken Grossman, Owner and CEO of Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. “We have also taken this opportunity to remove our carbon emissions from electricity and natural gas via ClimateSmart. We are excited about this one-of-a-kind program and the potential for greenhouse gas reductions. PG&E has taken the lead on power utility accountability and we are looking forward to working with PG&E to make this program a success.”
Selecting Projects through Best Practices, Competitive Bidding Process
PG&E will select voluntary greenhouse gas offset projects through a formal, competitive process based on established practices and standards used to govern the company’s purchase of renewable and conventional energy supplies. In order to qualify, all of the projects must be located in California and must be certified under the stringent criteria and protocols developed by an independent non-profit organization, the California Climate Action Registry. “ClimateSmart’s focus on transparency, accountability, and environmental protection provides a great example for all carbon offset programs,” said Diane Wittenberg, President of the California Climate Action Registry.
In coordination with today’s launch, PG&E issued its first “request for offers” for 250,000 tons of GHG offsets from California projects in the forest and livestock manure management sectors. Contingent upon approval by the CPUC, PG&E will consider bids from the manure management sector, for which the Registry issued stringent project reporting and certification protocols this month. PG&E will also seek to include other types of investments in addition to forestry and manure management as the Registry develops additional criteria and protocols.
The competitive bidding process, which will include a bidders’ conference on July 16th, will be open until July 30th. Early in 2008, PG&E will make its first selections and subsequent investments. All of the emission reductions that PG&E will invest in on behalf of its customers will be permanently retired. For more information on the ClimateSmart competitive selection process and to download a copy of the “2007 Request for ClimateSmart Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Project Offers,” please visit the ClimateSmart Web site.
ClimateSmart includes a number of program elements to maximize transparency and accountability. The program will be reviewed annually by independent auditors and PG&E will regularly report program results to the CPUC, as well as to all participating customers. In addition, PG&E created a ClimateSmart External Advisory Group – consisting of recognized leaders from a wide range of community and environmental groups, businesses and government agencies – to provide independent counsel and guidance.
PG&E created ClimateSmart as a part of its overall climate protection and environmental leadership strategies, including the support of federal and state regulation of greenhouse gases such as AB 32. ClimateSmart is designed to supplement, not substitute for, PG&E’s existing efforts – both voluntary and mandatory – to address climate change.
PG&E proudly provides its customers with among the cleanest energy in the nation. Currently, over 50% of the energy delivered to its electric customers is carbon free and the company is well on its way to reaching its renewable energy portfolio of 20 percent by 2010. Through its leading energy efficiency and demand response programs, the company has helped prevent over 125 million tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere, while saving its customers nearly $10 billion.
For More Information on Pacific Gas and Electric Company Visit www.pge.com or call 1-800-660-6789.
