2009 Climate Award Winners

Corporate and Governmental Award Winners
California Climate Action Team
City of Berkeley
Mauritius and the Federated States of Micronesia
Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
Sun Microsystems

Team and Organization Award Winners
Building Owners and Managers Association International
Consortium for Energy Efficiency
Pacific Forest Trust
Agustín Sánchez and Laura Berón

Individual Award Winners
Mr. George David Banks
Ms. Sandra Ely
Mr. Edward Thomas Morehouse, Jr.
Dr. Ajeet Rohatgi
Dr. Joseph Senecal
Mr. Rajendra Shende

Summaries of the 2009 Climate Protection Award Winners' Accomplishments

Corporate & Governmental Award Winners

California Climate Action Team & its Member Agencies
California Environmental Protection Agency
Business, Transportation and Housing Agency
Department of Food and Agriculture
Resources Agency
Health and Human Services Agency
State and Consumer Services Agency
Governor's Office of Planning and Research
Air Resources Board
Water Resources Control Board
Integrated Waste Management Board
Department of Toxic Substance Control
Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
Department of Water Resources
Department of Transportation
State Parks Department
Energy Commission
Public Utilities Commission

For nearly two decades, California has been working to measure and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In 2005, Gov. Schwarzenegger set aggressive greenhouse gas reduction targets - 1990 levels by 2020. He directed the California Environmental Protection Agency to lead a Climate Action Team (CAT) to coordinate the state's climate change programs and make further reduction recommendations. In 2006, Gov. Schwarzenegger signed those targets into law. The CAT plays an essential role in the state's efforts to combat climate change. The CAT supports the implementation of the Scoping Plan - the state's roadmap to reach the greenhouse gas reduction goals required in the Global Warming Solution Act of 2006, or AB 32. This Plan calls for an ambitious but achievable reduction in California's carbon footprint - toward a clean energy future. They are leaders among their peers - cooperating with other states seeking to reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions while still maintaining strong economic growth.

The CAT has taken a comprehensive approach to climate change policy development by sponsoring research on the unique physical and economic impacts of climate change on California. These research efforts laid the groundwork for the state's GHG mitigation policies as well as policy efforts to adapt to our changing climate.

The original work of the CAT established the outline of emission reduction measures to meet California's goals. Further collaborative work among the CAT members led to the wide range of emission reduction policies contained in the state's Scoping Plan. The measures cover a wide range of strategies including market mechanisms, regulatory measures and voluntary actions, and established a broad GHG cap-and-trade program covering 85 percent of California's emissions. The reduction measures in the plan are projected to reduce GHG emissions by 169 million metric tons of CO2-equivalent in 2020.

California's energy efficiency policies provide an example of the potential success of these collaborative efforts. After establishing energy efficiency as the state's highest priority energy resource, California set aggressive energy saving targets for utilities and created incentives for investor-owned utilities (IOUs) to deliver effective energy efficiency programs. As of 2003, the amount of energy saved by these energy efficiency policies was equal to 15 percent of California's total electricity use. Furthermore, the energy efficiency deployed by these policies is expected to reduce GHG emissions by another 20 million metric tons of CO2e in 2020.

Additionally, California is enacting policies to aggressively deploy renewable electricity. California's Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) requires that 20 percent of energy come from sources such as wind, solar and geothermal by 2010, and has a goal of one-third renewable energy by 2020. This single strategy is expected to reduce global warming pollution by 21 million metric tons in 2020.

City of Berkeley, California

Berkeley, California is paving the way for energy efficiency and solar energy through an innovative method of financing that makes solar energy and efficiency upgrades more affordable for the average home-owner. Berkeley is the first city in the nation to allow property owners to pay for energy efficiency improvements and solar system installation as a long-term special tax on their individual property tax bill. The Berkeley Plan eliminates the major financial hurdles to solar electric systems - the high upfront cost and the possibility that those costs will not be recovered when the property is sold. These policies are expected to fundamentally change the market for solar and prompt the purchase of thousands of solar systems over the next decade that otherwise would not have been installed. The Berkeley First Solar financing project is just one part of the city's comprehensive Climate Action Plan designed to help Berkeley residents achieve their community-wide GHG emissions reduction target to reduce emissions 80 percent below 2000 emissions levels by 2050. In addition to solar and efficiency financing, the Climate Action Plan is reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with land use, transportation, building energy use, waste and recycling, and food systems.

Mauritius and the Federated States of Micronesia

The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and Mauritius have been playing increasingly important roles in protecting the climate. As island nations, both are already experiencing the effects of sea level rise and are further threatened by severe sea level rise that will result if the world does not take immediate and adequate action to deal with climate change. FSM and Mauritius recognized they could not wait for the completion of a new climate agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and that the survival of their people depended on urgent action. Armed with the knowledge that a simple adjustment to the Montreal Protocol ozone treaty had the potential to mitigate significant amounts of greenhouse gas emissions, in early 2007 officials from FSM and Mauritius worked diligently to propose an accelerated phase-out of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs). Masao Nakayama, permanent representative of FSM to the United Nations, encouraged support for the FSM proposal, with lawyer Antonio Oposa Jr. playing an important role as a negotiator for FSM. Sateeaved Seebaluck led the team for Mauritius. For small island countries with limited funds and limited contributions to global emissions, putting forth these formal proposals was an incredible achievement. The successful agreement to accelerate the phase-out of HCFCs was the first time that both developed and developing countries agreed to actions to mitigate climate emissions - in this case, up to 16 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-eq.) through 2040. FSM and Mauritius maintained strong leadership in 2008 by advocating a joint proposal to collect and destroy banks of ozone-depleting substances that could avoid emissions of up to 6 billion tonnes of CO2-eq. by 2015. Their determination paid off, and in November 2008 Parties to the Montreal Protocol agreed on the importance of destroying ozone-depleting substances (ODS) banks in order to protect the climate.

Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a cooperative effort by ten Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states to limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, is the first mandatory, market-based carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions reduction program in the United States and will reduce power plant emissions 10 percent below 2009 levels by 2018. Initiated in 2003 by the governors of Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont, RGGI has expanded to include the state of Maryland. RGGI states greatly advanced the field of environmental regulation when they agreed that a minimum of 25 percent of each state's allowance budget would be auctioned and the revenue used by each state for consumer benefit. In a true sign of leadership, each of the participating states ultimately chose to auction between 60 and 100 percent of their allowances and dedicate the revenue to consumer energy efficiency, energy conservation, and clean energy development in order to maximize the program's environmental and economic benefit. To date, RGGI has successfully conducted three auctions that have generated more than $262 million that will help grow the green energy sectors of the economy and result in cost savings, reduced CO2 and other air pollutants, improved energy system efficiency, and economic development throughout the region. RGGI officially went into force on January 1, 2009, and can already be considered a tremendous success. In 2018, RGGI's reductions will be equivalent to taking more than 3.12 million cars off the road each year. Because electric power plants represent more than one-fourth of the CO2 emitted each year in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, RGGI is a key aspect of participating states' strategies to combat climate change and is being considered a model example as a federal strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is debated in Congress.

Sun Microsystems

Sun Microsystems reduced total U.S. GHG emissions by 23 percent between 2002 and 2007, five years ahead of its Climate Leaders goal year of 2012. This achievement was the result of two major initiatives: Sun's flexible work program, Open Work, and IT hardware compression programs. Sun's Open Work program has enabled 18,000 employees, or 56 percent of Sun's workforce, to work away from the office at least one or two days a week, allowing Sun to reduce its real estate holdings by 15 percent in 2007 alone. To determine whether the company was simply shifting emissions to the employees' homes, Sun conducted a study of its program, showing that the initiative resulted in a net carbon benefit to the atmosphere. For Sun's IT hardware compression program, the company has utilized newer technology to consolidate its data center operations from 202,000 square feet across 152 locations to 76,000 square feet across 14 new, state-of-the-art data centers. Sun develops energy-efficient data centers with innovative technology that can help businesses around the globe have a positive impact on the environment while reducing costs. Sun is continuing its climate change leadership by setting a new goal across its global operations of an additional 20 percent reduction from 2007 to 2015 under the EPA's Climate Leaders program.

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Team and Organization Award Winners

Building Owners and Managers Association International

The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International, a leading not-for-profit association representing 80 percent of the commercial real estate market, is transforming the industry through leadership initiatives to reduce commercial real estate's energy consumption and the related 18 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions attributable to commercial buildings. Working with the EPA, the Clinton Climate Initiative, local governments and real estate organizations, BOMA launched four programs: the BOMA 7-Point Challenge, which encourages members to achieve a 30 percent decrease in energy consumption (compared to an average building) by 2012; the BOMA Energy Efficiency Program (BEEP), which teaches strategies to improve performance and reduce energy consumption; the BOMA Green Lease Guide, which helps owners and managers write green practices into leases and maintain efficient building operations; and the BOMA Energy Performance Contract Model, which helps members understand how to perform energy retrofits to improve existing buildings' financial and environmental performance. Since the launch of BEEP in 2006, more than 14,000 practitioners have participated in seminars and webinars across the country. Since the launch of the BOMA 7-Point Challenge in 2007, more than 100 organizations have endorsed it, including leading real estate firms representing 2 billion square feet of commercial space. Members use ENERGY STAR tools to track their progress. For the 121 million square feet of office space already shared with BOMA in ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, members saved 500 million kBtu, equivalent to 265.9 million pounds of carbon dioxide, and the savings are growing by the day as more BOMA Challenge participants sign up and report their reductions. If BOMA is successful in getting all its members to reduce consumption by 30 percent, they will avoid over 120 billion pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, equivalent to removing 12 million cars from the roads.

Consortium for Energy Efficiency

The Consortium for Energy Efficiency (CEE) has proven that when people unite for a common cause, great achievements are possible. In the case of CEE, these achievements are critical for climate protection. CEE is a consortium of efficiency program managers from across the United States and Canada who work together on common approaches to advance energy efficiency. CEE committees target energy efficiency opportunities in over 18 areas, including electronics, appliances, lighting, heating and air conditioning, motors, and transformers in residential, commercial, and industrial capacities. CEE has helped transform markets through their performance specifications for energy-using products. These performance specifications can have multiple tiers of efficiency: The first tier is generally consistent with ENERGY STAR specifications. The second tier recognizes products that exceed ENERGY STAR specifications. In select categories, higher tiers are offered that recognize the most efficient products. Because energy efficiency programs often base incentives on a product's tier, manufacturers are inclined to offer super efficient products. In this way, CEE tiered performance specifications enable program managers to tap the equity of the ENERGY STAR brand while promoting super efficiency. Since starting out with seven founding members in 1991, CEE has grown to over a hundred members responsible for 90 percent of ratepayer-funded efficiency programs in the United States and Canada. In 2007, CEE member efficiency programs saved 68,520 gigawatt hours of electricity, 235 million therms of gas, and abated more than 41 million metric tons of CO2 while saving participating customers over $6 billion.

Pacific Forest Trust

Forests comprise one third of the United States and play an invaluable role as "carbon sinks," capable of removing greenhouse gas emissions from the air and storing them for extremely long periods of time. But these climate and other ecosystem service benefits are threatened by forest loss and degradation. Recognizing this critical threat, Laurie Wayburn and Constance Best co-founded the Pacific Forest Trust (PFT) in 1993. Since that time, the PFT has worked to ensure that forest conservation and stewardship is recognized as an essential part of any comprehensive approach to climate protection. Through the "Working Forests, Winning Climate" campaign, PFT helped build the policy and market frameworks to expand the conservation and carbon stewardship of U.S. forests to help solve our climate crisis. Concurrently, PFT demonstrated the measureable and verifiable climate protection value of forest conservation through pilot projects such as the Van Eck Forest Project, which was the first forest emissions reduction project to be verified under California's rigorous rules. Strong market response to the Project demonstrated how landowners can generate real financial returns from their forests by being climate stewards. The Van Eck Forest Project model is being widely studied and emulated by large and small forestland owners and Timber Management Investment Organizations. PFT was an invaluable asset to California as the state developed its plan to achieve its climate goals under AB 32. PFT worked closely with the Air Resources Board and stakeholders to ensure that the contributions of forests as a sector are recognized in a comprehensive way, and the state adopted PFT's framework for measuring and monitoring forest carbon stocks and changes, mitigating losses, and marketing gains. Wayburn and Best's work in California already has created a positive ripple effect. Other climate strategy architects and policymakers seek their guidance, while California serves as an example to state, federal and international climate leaders working to craft their own climate strategies.

Agustín Sánchez and Laura Berón

Laura Berón (Head of the Ozone Program Office at the Argentina Secretariat of Environment and Sustainable Development) and Agustín Sánchez (Head of the Ozone Program Office at the Mexico Ministry of Environment) demonstrated extraordinary leadership during the 2008 negotiations to support proposals to greatly increase the climate benefits of the Montreal Protocol. The issues at hand during the 2008 negotiations were to assure that sufficient funding would be available for developing countries in order to comply with stage one of the HCFCs phaseout, and the destruction of existing stocks, or "banks," of chemicals that would leak into the atmosphere from discarded equipment by 2015 if not properly recovered and destroyed, doing significant damage not only to the ozone layer, but also to the global climate system. Taking immediate action would be the only way to avoid the emission of 6 to 15 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-eq.) by 2015. At first, many Parties were reluctant to agree that action should be taken immediately, calling for further discussion and study. However, Sánchez and Berón were thoroughly committed. Sánchez facilitated discussions and debates about the proposals while encouraging delegates to take immediate action. Berón provided steadfast leadership and strategic management during the replenishment contact group, arguing the need for funding to assure the climate benefits of the hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFC) phaseout were realized, and making sure that funding included appropriate financing for pilot projects for the recovery and destruction of chemical banks. Their efforts were successful: Parties agreed upon the importance of destroying the banks for climate protection, and agreed to provide $490 million in funding, including funds for pilot projects on collection and destruction. Due to their unrelenting commitment this year to strengthen the Montreal Protocol for the benefit of climate, Laura Berón and Agustín Sánchez are deserving of this honor.

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Individual Award Winners

George David Banks

George (David) Banks provided exceptional leadership and intergovernmental coordination with the end result of strengthening the Montreal Protocol to protect the climate. Through the office of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), he persuaded relevant agencies to consider "win-win" opportunities to help protect the climate. Through working groups and networking, David brought forward the science, explained the governance structure, and persuaded the affected industry and other stakeholders to think out of the box. From there, he promoted taking the case to the highest levels of international economic and environmental meetings including the G-8 and the Major Economies. With those official directives to use the Montreal Protocol to protect the climate, David was instrumental in translating the intent of the high level agreements into the diplomatic instructions for meetings of the Major Economies and Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. He contributed important leadership within the White House on the approval of vital regulations under the Clean Air Act. In addition, he helped organize the Department of Defense, Defense Logistic Agency and its Australian and Netherlands ozone-depleting substances (ODS) banking partners to offer developing countries the benefit of the Best Practices they had developed and deployed. David's hard work and the hard work at EPA, Department of State and elsewhere paid off in 2007 with acceleration of the hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFC) phaseout, in 2008 with agreement to collect and destroy banks of ozone depleting substances, and in 2009 with agreement to consider controlling hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) using the institutions of the Montreal Protocol.

Sandra Ely

Sandra Ely, the Environment and Energy Policy Coordinator for New Mexico, has worked tirelessly and masterfully to advance technical knowledge relating to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and other air pollutants, to identify, negotiate and promote best practices in clean energy and climate change policies and to improve coordination and communication between energy and environmental activities. Her leadership and dedication is an inspiration within New Mexico and across other states. In her home state, Ely played a key part in New Mexico's decision to become the first state in the U.S. to join the Chicago Climate Exchange, and she also facilitated the New Mexico Climate Change Advisory Group (CCAG) stakeholder process, which identified ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in New Mexico to 2000 levels by 2012, 10 percent below those levels by 2020 and 75 percent below those levels by 2050. Ely expertly managed the tough job of building consensus across parties from diverse interests, including different government agencies, industry, environment, energy and economic development. Across the western states, Ely has helped advance clean energy and climate change mitigation. She currently represents New Mexico as a Western Climate Initiative (WCI) Partner. The WCI work is unprecedented and has set an overall regional goal to reduce aggregate GHG emissions 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. She provides technical expertise as they design and implement a regional cap-and-trade program. Working with the federal government, Ely is the state representative for EPA's Clean Energy-Environment State Partnership program. Through this Program, she is working with EPA to advance New Mexico's clean energy and climate change efforts and to serve as a leader to other states interested in these goals. She has also provided support to senior New Mexico state officials as they have provided testimony to Congress related to energy and environmental matters.

Edward Thomas Morehouse, Jr.

Throughout his career as an Air Force officer and private consultant supporting the Department of Defense (DoD), Tom Morehouse has been a driving force behind key policy changes that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Most recently, Tom has helped to change the national climate change debate by showing that climate and national security are inextricably linked, and that taking action to protect the climate would help, not hurt, military readiness. He is the principal author of three Defense Science Board reports on energy security. The reports concluded that DoD's excessive dependence on fossil fuel is an energy risk, and suggested modifications to DoD's business practices that would save fuel, reduce risks, and eliminate millions of pounds of greenhouse gas emissions. As a result of the reports, Congress enacted legislation to establish new energy governance within DoD, and mandated implementation of the report's recommendations. Morehouse was also co-author of a Center for Naval Analysis (CNA) study in 2007 that assessed the national security consequences of global climate change including geopolitical instabilities, infrastructure vulnerabilities, food and water security issues, and the potential for humanitarian disasters. The study recommended governmental actions to forecast these consequences and put in place actions to prevent them where possible, and mitigate and adapt to those that cannot be prevented. The study resulted in two new laws: one requiring national intelligence assessment of climate change, and another requiring DoD to incorporate climate factors into their mission planning processes. Morehouse has also served as an advisor to the White House on technologies to strengthen energy security and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, provided expert advice to the Montreal Protocol and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and played a central role in organizing national and international conferences on the military's role in climate protection.

Dr. Ajeet Rohatgi

In 1977, after finishing his PhD in Metallurgy and Material Science, Dr. Ajeet Rohatgi embarked upon a career-long mission to make solar energy cost-effective. At the time, solar had an incredibly high cost and very low market penetration. Today, the solar industry is growing over 40% annually and is viewed as one of the most important future energy resources. Many of the advances that enabled this progress can be credited to Dr. Rohatgi's tireless efforts. Dr. Rohatgi is the founder and director of the photovoltaic research program at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He has authored over 375 technical papers about solar, set 14 solar cell world records and helped over 40 of the world's largest solar companies develop their technology. Starting in 1985, his program quickly transformed into one of the top solar research centers in the world, and in 1992, the DOE made it the first University Center for Excellence in Photovoltaic Research (UCEP)-one of only two such programs. Dr. Rohatgi's work in materials characterization, cell modeling and rapid processing has increased solar cell efficiencies and reduced their manufacturing costs, playing a key role in driving solar energy toward cost parity with fossil fuels. Today, a large number of the silicon solar cells produced globally rely upon UCEP's discoveries to achieve their price and efficiency targets.

In 2007, Dr. Rohatgi founded his own solar company, Suniva. Utilizing patents from UCEP, Suniva has advanced the state of the solar industry by developing highly efficient solar cells that can be made with low-cost manufacturing techniques. The company's exciting approach has captured the interest of venture capitalist and large multinational solar companies alike. Even while leading a rapidly growing company, Dr. Rohatgi continues to direct UCEP and advise solar companies around the world. His dedication has been a major force accelerating solar energy forward.

Dr. Joseph Senecal

Joe Senecal played an active and central role in the development and implementation of the Fire Protection Industry's voluntary code of practice to protect the climate by minimizing emissions of hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) fire protection agents. HFC fire protection agents are potent greenhouse gases that have hundreds to thousands of times the warming impact of carbon dioxide (CO2). The voluntary code of practice calls upon industry to limit HFC emissions by taking steps such as improving equipment design or improving maintenance and inspection procedures. However, Senecal realized that in the absence of emissions data for HFC agents, it would be impossible for the fire equipment industry to determine if efforts to limit emissions had any effect at all. Senecal, therefore, took the lead in conceptualizing, developing, and implementing a novel voluntary industry program, called HEEP (HFC Emissions Estimating Program), to collect data on the emissions of HFC fire-extinguishing agents for all causes. Working with the Halon Alternatives Research Corporation and the Fire Suppression Systems Association, Senecal was able to convince companies selling HFC fire-extinguishing agents to voluntarily measure and report their sales of HFC agents for system or product recharge use-an unprecedented achievement that makes it possible to monitor the impact of practices aimed at minimizing HFC agent emissions. Data on emissions from equipment using HFC fire-extinguishing agents have now been collected for a six-year period. The data indicate that the industry's efforts have been successful. Emissions of HFC agents were in the range of 0.14 to 0.17 million metric tons of carbon-equivalent (MMTCE) between 2002 to 2007 period and were leveling off over the past four years. Such detailed insight into an industry's HFC emissions would not have been possible without the creation and successful implementation of the HEEP program by Joe Senecal.

Rajendra Shende

Rajendra Shende is the driver behind the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) campaigns to safeguard the global climate system while protecting the ozone layer. He was a pioneer in promoting the significant climate benefits while implementing the Montreal Protocol in the developing countries. In 1992 he joined UNEP's Division of Technology, Industry and Economics (DTIE) as head of the OzonAction Branch, and in 1999 he launched DTIE's Energy Programme. He has been a long-standing advocate of technologies that simultaneously protect the ozone layer and climate, particularly those that use low- or no-global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants and improve energy efficiency in refrigeration and air conditioning appliances. Through publication of case studies, convening roundtables, and conducting networking activities in 140 countries in 10 regions, he has outreached the 'one solution' approach for the 'two most significant climate issues' of our time. Under his leadership, OzonAction has developed successful partnerships with industries, international organizations, academia and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under the Montreal Protocol. With Greenpeace, he helped create a partnership with Carlsberg, the Coca Cola Company, IKEA, McDonalds, Pepsico, and Unilever that promotes energy-efficient, HFC-free technologies in "point of sale" refrigeration. The partnership has helped stimulate and transform the technology supply chain and promotes effective business models that protect the global environment. Shende also helped establish the "SolarChill" partnership with United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), World Health Organziation (WHO), Danish Technological Institute, Greenpeace, GTZ Proklima, PATH, Vestfrost, and Danfoss, which has developed a solar-powered vaccine cooler. This unique public domain technology, which uses ozone and climate friendly refrigerants, no batteries, and direct current compressor and solar energy, won the UK Cooling Industry award in 2006. Among the significant bilateral cooperation projects that he led was the third-generation MAC technology that uses low-GWP hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and better fuel efficiency. Shende was one of the coordinating lead authors of the report on 'Safe-guarding the ozone layer and global climate system' of IPCC which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.

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2009 Climate Award Winners

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