Clinton partners with mayors, Wal-Mart to make green products more affordable

The initiative's purchasing consortium—which offers volume discounts on energy-efficient and clean-energy products and technologies—previously was available only to the C40 Large Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40), which includes Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York and Philadelphia in the United States.

Clinton, addressing a group of 100 U.S. mayors at the 2007 Mayors Climate Protection Summit in Seattle, also announced that his initiative is partnering with Wal-Mart to drive down the cost of green products and technologies.

“Climate change is a global issue that we must address immediately if we are to reverse its catastrophic effects,” Clinton said. “I am pleased that the U.S. 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.”

Clinton noted that the Clinton Climate Initiative'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, Clinton said, 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.

According to the initiative, such 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 Co., Solar Gard, Tremco, BASF Polyurethane Foam Enterprises and Optimum Energy.
  
• Transportation—Scania, UTC Power, Ballard Power Systems, ISE Corp., Siemens, Dynetek, EDrive, A123 Systems, Maxwell and Volvo.
• Waste—GE Jenbacher.

“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 and Trenton, N.J., 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.”

Wal-Mart, Clinton Initiative will try to identify new green products

In addition to combining their purchasing resources to further drive down the prices of green technologies, the Clinton Climate Initiative 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, the organizations said.

By switching to LEDs, Wal-Mart estimates that cities could save 50 percent on street lamp energy consumption and reduce maintenance costs by 80 percent.

“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.”

Cities well-positioned to create change

Clinton launched the Clinton Foundation’s Climate Initiative in August 2006. In its first phase, the initiative is working with cities around the world to accelerate efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The initiative points out that municipal governments are well-positioned to make a major impact on the global market for green technologies. Cities across the United States 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.

In May, Clinton announced the creation of a global Energy Efficiency Building Retrofit Program, a project of the Clinton Climate Initiative. The program brings together eight of the world’s largest energy service companies, five of the world’s largest banks and 17 of the world’s largest cities to reduce energy consumption in existing buildings.

The program provides 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.

For more information on the Clinton Climate Initiative, click here.