EDF to Receive Inaugural ‘Mary D. Nichols Climate Action Champion’ Award

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                              

Contact:
Joaquin McPeek, 916-492-7173 jmcpeek@edf.org

(San Francisco, CA – April 17, 2013) Tomorrow Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) will be honored with the inaugural ‘Mary D. Nichols Climate Action Champion’ Award in recognition of their long standing commitment to fighting climate change and leadership in advancing climate policy.

The award – in the form of a championship belt — will be given by the Climate Action Reserve (CAR) during a public ceremony at Navigating the American Carbon World Conference (NACW), the largest and most comprehensive gathering on climate change policy and carbon markets.

“EDF is proud of the role it has played, along with countless partners, to champion policies that protect our climate,” said Derek Walker, Associate Vice President US Climate and Energy Program. “We are especially honored to be recognized by CAR, a world-class organization doing critical work on these issues. We look forward to working with CAR to promote new and innovative ways to reduce pollution and lead us to a cleaner energy future.”

CAR, an environmental non-profit that runs the premier carbon offset registry in North America, has presented the ‘Climate Action Champion’ Award annually for 10 years in recognition of individuals and organizations that exemplify leadership and commitment to the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

This year, the award was renamed after Mary D. Nichols, Chairman of the California Air Resources Board and someone who has devoted her entire career to advocating for the environment and public health. Ms. Nichols will be handing out the award to EDF at the conference.

To receive the award, EDF exemplified one or more of the following criteria:

• Leadership that has helped transform public policy and created broad movement to address climate change
• Leadership that advances climate policy within a non-profit, academic institution, business or government agency
• Leadership that engages and shapes public response to climate change
• Action that has substantially reduced greenhouse gas emissions

“We are excited to honor EDF this year with the inaugural Mary D. Nichols Climate Action Champion Award,” said Gary Gero, President of the Climate Action Reserve. “Their deep commitment to addressing climate change, and influential role in shaping and pursuing innovative climate policy, makes them a well-deserving recipient of this award.”

Other recipients of this award include Disney, Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and James Goldstene, former Executive Officer of the California Air Resource Board.

Also receiving recognition was Robert Parkhurst, Agriculture Greenhouse Gas Markets Director for EDF. Parkhurst was given the CARROT (“Climate Action Reserve Recognizing Our Team”) Award for his extraordinary work in the field of climate action and contributions that have gone above and beyond in service to the Reserve. This is the second CARROT award for Robert. He earned the first in 2008 for helping to create the first credits and early offset protocols with the Reserve.

Parkhurst is currently working to create new opportunities for farmers, ranchers and foresters in California and across the country to participate in and profit from the state’s efforts to reduce carbon pollution.

The NACW runs April 16-18 in San Francisco and will take an in-depth look at California’s historic cap-and-trade program, including discussions on market structure, revenue allocation, legal issues and forecasts. The conference will also delve into other established and emerging carbon markets around the world and potential linkages.