°Climate Group Members Make Commitments at Clinton Global Initiative

At the Clinton Global Initiative, held from September 26-28 in New York, three °Climate Group members, Pratt Industries, Swiss Re and PG&E, made significant commitments on climate change.

Swiss Re, committed to improving the resilience of 600,000 people against climate risks through supporting the development of a commercial market for innovative financial risk transfer instruments designed for low-income settings.

Duke Energy, along with 7 other US electric utility companies, is taking action to increase the potential of energy efficiency to reduce carbon emissions.  With regulatory reforms and / or approval, the eight utilities committed to increase their aggregated investment in energy efficiency and demand side management by $1.5 billion per year. They will work with policymakers to remove regulatory barriers to utility investment in energy efficiency, which would permit greater utility investment over the long-term.

Pratt Industries, envisions the U.S. moving “towards a zero waste society” and seeks to increase U.S. recycling rates towards German levels by investing $1billion to expand its recycling operations.  The anticipated impact of the $1billion investment is the annual avoidance of hundreds of thousands of tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in the first half of the commitment period, rising to over 1 million tons per annum by the end of the decade. This investment will also create hundreds of new jobs.

The °Climate Group welcomes these commitments and looks forward to working with our members to help achieve them.