• Notable: AT&T, eBay, Harrah’s, IBM, Nike, Tropicana, Unilever, Volkswagen
• ROI Success Stories: Adventist HealthCare, Bath & Body Works, Cisco
• Government and Legal: Climate bill update, western regional cap-and-trade, federal energy jobs, Massachusetts energy efficiency funding, London’s waste funding, NY & NJ Port Authority trucks, China & India’s climate pact approval, US nuclear energy research grants
  
• Tech Innovations: Carbon-to-algae-to-biofuel process, Electromagnetic roads
• Economic Indicators: Top 50 venture-backed green companies, carbon trading volume increases
• New Research & Tools: Ceres’ sustainability roadmap, medium-duty truck fleets, fossil fuel company ratings, global consumer perspectives, U.S. GHGs, green buildings

NOTABLE

AT&T will work with suppliers to make changes in packaging for wireless device accessories that should eliminate 60 percent of paper and 30 percent of plastic used.
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eBay launched a new green shopping hub in partnership with Cooler, and launched a marketing campaign to remind shoppers that buying used products is environmentally sustainable.
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Two Harrah’s properties in Las Vegas were awarded gold achievement awards from the EPA’s WasteWise program for achieving significant levels of recycling.
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IBM opened its new Energy & Utilities Solutions Lab in China, which will focus on developing smart grid software.
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Nike’s World Cup uniforms for 9 national teams will be made from recycled PET bottles, which were converted into polyester yarn.
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Tropicana is working to “green” its orange juice by using low-carbon fertilizer instead of traditional nitrogen fertilizer, which accounts for 35 percent of the product’s carbon footprint.
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Unilever is working with Solazyme to expand research into the use of algae oil instead of petrochemicals in its soaps and other products.
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Volkswagen Group reduced energy consumption of its office equipment by 86 percent compared to 2005 levels by replacing old machines with multifunction devices over a four-year period.
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ROI SUCCESS STORIES

Adventist HealthCare signed renewable energy purchasing contracts expected to save the company $1.25 million by locking in electricity rates through mid-2013.
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Bath & Body Works expects savings of $140,000 a year from an energy and water retrofit of its headquarters, which helped earn it LEED Silver certification.
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Early results from Cisco System’s environmentally sound packaging program forecast $24 million in annual savings from reduced packaging of 4.5 million pounds and increased transportation load utilization.
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CEF MEMBERS ONLY

Register for the members-only conference call on “Tapping into Stimulus Funding for Green Projects,” March 30, 11am-Noon EST.

GOVERNMENT AND LEGAL

Participants in a US climate legislation policy summit, including President Obama and over a dozen senators, concluded that a bill still could be passed this year.
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California and New Mexico plus three Canadian provinces are pursuing the creation of a regional cap-and-trade market in the west.
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Proposed federal energy efficiency jobs provisions, which include residential and commercial retrofit programs and energy-efficient manufacturing grants, could create a total of 333,000 positions this year and 184,000 positions in 2011.
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Massachusetts will fund energy efficiency projects in state buildings that could result in $22 million in annual energy savings through state-backed bonds that will be paid back through energy savings.
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The city of London earmarked £28 million (approximately $42 million) to fund up to 20 waste and recycling initiatives in the city.
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New York’s Port Authority and the EPA are investing $28 million in the Clean Truck Program aimed at replacing the oldest, most polluting trucks at the Port of New York and New Jersey. In addition, all pre-1994 model trucks will be banned from the Port Authority marine terminals beginning next year.
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China and India finally signaled their qualified approval of the Copenhagen climate pact.
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The Department of Energy awarded $40 million to two companies working to develop next-generation nuclear reactors, while the Nuclear Regulatory Commission expressed concerns over storage policies for nuclear waste.
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TECH INNOVATIONS

The Department of Energy awarded $1.5 million in funding to UOP, a Honeywell company, for its project involving carbon capture and reuse to cultivate algae for biofuel production.
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South Korean scientists have developed a way to charge electronic vehicles while moving by embedding magnetic components in the road that inductively charge vehicles as they pass over them.
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ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Greentech Media released its list of the top 50 venture-backed green tech startups.
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Carbon permit trading volume grew 42 percent at the seventh auction under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
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NEW RESEARCH AND TOOLS

A new Ceres report, 21st Century Corporation: The Ceres Roadmap for Sustainability, lays out a roadmap for sustainability, including 20 expectations that companies should focus on immediately, over 200 best-practices and numerous resources and tools.
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The Environmental Defense Fund and fleet management company PHH Arval released a new report that details case studies on emission- and cost-reduction strategies for medium-duty truck fleets, the “workhorses of the American economy.”
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Two Tomorrows issued its rankings of the world’s 10 largest fossil fuel companies on environmental and social impacts. BP and Shell topped the list.
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A new Accenture report titled “The New Energy World, A Consumer Perspective,” asks consumers from 22 countries about their concerns over energy, climate change and governments efforts to address them.
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U.S. greenhouse gas emissions dropped 3 percent in 2008 from 2007 levels due to high gas prices, a slow economy and a cool summer—the largest ever one-year drop since measurement began in 1990. 2009 emissions are expected to have dropped even more.
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The “4th Annual Green Building Survey” report identified only a slight dip in support for green buildings and LEED certification in 2009 despite the economic downturn.
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