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EPA Honors Climate and Ozone Protection Award Winners

Release Date: 05/01/2007
Contact Information: Dave Ryan, (202) 564-4355 / [email protected]

(Washington, D.C. - May 1, 2007) World customs inspectors, skin cancer prevention experts, an international bank, and a reverend are among the 31 individuals, organizations and companies from around the world that EPA will recognize today for outstanding efforts to protect the Earth's climate and stratospheric ozone layer. The award recipients have demonstrated ingenuity, leadership and public purpose by improving their environmental performance and encouraging others to do the same.

"As part of the Bush Administration's aggressive yet practical strategy, EPA is pleased to work with partners like these award winners to protect the Earth's atmosphere in cost-effective ways," said EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson. "Environmental protection is everyone's responsibility, and these leaders are making smart choices to hand down a cleaner, healthier future."

The Climate Protection Award winners collectively purchased over 250 million kilowatt hours of green power. They also generated wind and solar power on-site, increased energy efficiency, introduced new technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, and slashed the use of potent non-CO₂ greenhouse gases.

The Stratospheric Ozone Protection Award winners have helped to eliminate the use of ozone depleting substances in the agriculture and aviation sectors, and in medical inhalers. The winners have also helped to lead the phase-out of ozone depleting substances in developing countries, raise awareness about skin cancer prevention, and monitor the status of ozone layer recovery.

The awards will be presented at a ceremony this afternoon at the International Trade Center in Washington, D.C. Since the annual Stratospheric Ozone Protection Awards began in 1990, EPA has honored 510 individuals and organizations from 42 different countries. EPA began the Climate Protection Awards in 1998 and has so far recognized 139 individuals and organizations from 16 countries for outstanding efforts to curb climate change.

The year 2007 is notable because it marks the 20th Anniversary of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. Stratospheric Ozone Protection Award winners have been instrumental in developing technology that protects the ozone layer while saving energy and preventing greenhouse gas emissions, and have helped to make that treaty the success that it is today.

In honor of the 20th Anniversary, EPA will present the "Best of the Best" Stratospheric Ozone Protection Awards in Montreal, Canada in September 2007.

More information about the Best of the Best: epa.gov/ozone/awards/bestofthebest/index.html

For further information and to learn what winners did to earn the EPA's
- Stratospheric Ozone Protection Awards: epa.gov/ozone/awards
- Climate Protection Awards: epa.gov/cppd/awards/climproawards.htm

Related - April 26, 2007 EPA 20th anniversary report "Achievements in Stratospheric Ozone Protection":
epa.gov/ozone/2007stratozoneprogressreport.html



2007 Climate Protection Award Winners:

Arkema Climate Protection Team (France and USA)
Reverend Sally Bingham (San Francisco, Calif.)
Climate Protection Campaign (Sonoma County, Calif.)
Entergy Corp. (New Orleans, La.)
HSBC Holdings, plc (East London, UK)
Improved Mobile Air Conditioning Servicing Emissions Reduction Team (USA)
Joint Strike Fighter Emission Test Team (USA)
Mitsubishi Motors and Heavy Industries (Tokyo, Japan)
Natural Resources Council of Maine (Portland, Maine)
Robert Parkhurst (San Francisco, Calif.)
Red Dot Corporation (Seattle, Wash.)
Robert Redford (Beverly Hills, Calif.)
Auden Schendler (Aspen, Colo.)
Ron Sims (King County, Wash.)
Staples (Framingham, Mass.)
The Yalumba Wine Co. (Angaston, Australia)
Dadi Zhou (Beijing, China)


2007 Stratospheric Ozone Protection Award Winners:

Atul Bagai (Bangkok, Thailand)
Eclipse Aviation Corp. (Albuquerque, N.M.)
Omar E. El-Arini (Egypt)
Food and Drug Administration Essential Use MDI Team (USA)
James P. Gilreath (Gainesville, Fla.)
Jardines de los Andes and Flores de Funza (Bogata, Colombia)
NOAA Ozone-Depleting Gas Measurement Team (USA)
Ghazi Faleh Odat (Amman, Jordan)
Regional Intelligence Liaison Office for Asia and the Pacific, World Customs Organization (Brussels, Belgium)
Sachidananda Satapathy (New Delhi, India)
Secretariat-General of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia)
Skin Cancer Awareness and Prevention Team (USA)
SPX Corp. (Charlotte, N.C.)
Willem Veldman (The Hague, The Netherlands)