Partner Profile

Green Mountain Energy Company
Location	Austin, TX
Goal	Green Mountain Energy Company pledges to achieve net zero U.S. GHG emissions by 2005 and maintain that level through 2009.
Environmental Web Site
Company Description Founded in 1997 “to change the way power is made,” Green Mountain Energy Company offers residential, business, institutional and governmental customers the choice to support cleaner electricity generated from sources such as wind, solar, water, geothermal, biomass, and natural gas. Due to Green Mountain Energy Company's efforts, almost 600,000 customers nationwide have purchased electricity that is significantly less polluting than conventional electricity generation. With annual revenue of $200 to 500 million and 130 employees, Green Mountain Energy Company is committed to improving the environment through the products it sells and how it conducts its business.
Reasons for Joining Climate Leaders Green Mountain Energy Company’s participation in Climate Leaders is a natural extension of its corporate commitment to sustainable business practices and focus on improving the community in which it does business. "At Green Mountain Energy Company, our values, integrity, sustainability, and results continue to guide us as we proudly maintain our position as the nation’s largest provider of cleaner electricity,” says Gillian Taddune, the company’s chief environmental officer and champion of its sustainability efforts. “By buying cleaner electricity and supporting new renewable generation, our customers have effectively avoided 2.5 million tons of carbon from entering the atmosphere since 1999.” As part of its mission “to change the way power is made,” Green Mountain Energy Company feels it is critical to embrace its role as a responsible corporate citizen. “We also remain committed to carbon reduction at the corporate level as evidenced by our achievement of becoming carbon-neutral in 2005,” says Taddune. “The Climate Leaders program has provided us the framework within which we can successfully achieve this goal.” In addition, participating in Climate Leaders provides Green Mountain Energy Company the opportunity to gain recognition for its environmental leadership and to document its emission reduction efforts. It also allows the company to interact with other companies with similar goals and activities related to carbon management.
GHG Reductions Before Joining Climate Leaders Since 1998, Green Mountain Energy Company has calculated GHG emissions resulting from its daily business activities, including office energy use, employee commuting, and corporate air travel. Before joining Climate Leaders, Green Mountain’s goal was to mitigate 50 percent of CO2 emissions resulting from its business operations each year. Through its Corporate Climate Mitigation Program, the company has been able to achieve their emissions reduction goals. In addition, Green Mountain Energy Company is a member of the Texas Clean Air Partners program. Prior to joining Climate Leaders, Green Mountain Energy Company had implemented a number of sustainable business practices to reduce its impact on the environment, focusing on direct, indirect, and optional emissions. These include: • The purchase of renewable energy certificates to offset a percentage of energy usage for its corporate headquarters each year. • An employee offset program where employees purchase renewable energy certificates to offset their home energy usage each year. In 2005, Green Mountain Energy Company employees were responsible for the avoidance of nearly 1.6 million pounds of CO2 from entering the air. • A commuter program that rewards employees for finding creative ways to get to work. In 2004, the program helped avoid over 15,000 pounds of CO2. • Continuous reports to the Department of Energy’s 1605B voluntary greenhouse reporting registry, which encourages broad reporting of emissions and sequestration by utilities. • An annual Ceres report documenting the company’s commitment to continuous environmental improvement. Reductions from these and other efforts were approximately 1,000 metric tons CO2 per year.
Approach to GHG Management Green Mountain Energy Company pledges to achieve net zero U.S. GHG emissions by 2005 and maintain that level through 2009. The company will achieve this by continuing existing efforts, such as the commuting program, to reduce its emissions footprint and by instituting new programs. Through the Climate Leaders reporting process, Green Mountain Energy Company has continually improved its emissions reporting. The Inventory Management Plan (IMP) brings greater transparency and standardization to its corporate emissions calculations. The internal auditing program instituted through the IMP is expected to be especially valuable. Having the inventory calculation methodology thoroughly reviewed and validated through Climate Leaders helps ensure that the inventory is consistent with accepted industry methodologies. Green Mountain Energy Company feels that the most rewarding element that came out of this process was the development of new procedural improvements that will enable the company to collect data more accurately and regularly for the future.
Progress Towards Goal Completion For 2005, Green Mountain has successfully reduced its emissions by 27 percent compared to the 2004 base year and offset the remainder of its emissions to achieve its goal of net zero GHG emissions.

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