Entergy Announces a Second Five-Year Commitment to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Signs Memorandum of Understanding with Environmental Defense
May 12, 2006
New Orleans, La. – Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR), one of the nation’s leading electricity providers, has pledged – for a second time – to make a voluntary commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its operating plants and stabilize those emissions at a level 20 percent below year 2000 from 2006-2010. This second commitment is part of Entergy’s long-term reduction target, which was originally announced in May 2001 and was implemented in partnership with Environmental Defense, a national environmental advocacy group.
Entergy was the first U.S. electric company to publicly announce such a greenhouse gas emissions target in 2001. The New Orleans-based company partnered with Environmental Defense to develop a program to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from Entergy’s plants in the United States that generate electricity through burning fossil fuels.
In recognition of the first commitment made in May 2001, Entergy and Environmental Defense signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the second commitment on May 1, 2006, five years after the first commitment.
“Under the first voluntary greenhouse gas-limiting commitment that Entergy made in May 2001, the company exceeded its stabilization commitment and reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 23 percent under the established target, while simultaneously increasing its electrical sales by 21 percent over the same time period. That kind of progress is exactly what our company, and hopefully others, needs in order to achieve emission reductions that will address climate change. We are very pleased with the progress we have made and are pushing forward with our second commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions even further in the 2006-2010 time frame,” said Gary Serio, vice president of Safety and Environment for Entergy. “We appreciate, in this period of major uncertainty in the electric generation sector, how important it is for a leading company like Entergy to step up and guarantee that it will reduce its emissions even while
“Entergy is proving every day that it’s possible to cap and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, make money, and provide power for jobs and growth,” said Environmental Defense President Fred Krupp. “Their leadership has been exemplary and we’re pleased to be working with them.”
The first commitment Entergy made from 2000-2005 was met through both internal and external greenhouse gas reduction projects, including 61 internal reduction projects and 13 external projects, which encompassed carbon sequestration on company-owned property and greenhouse gas emission trades. The second commitment will also be a mix of internal and external carbon-reducing projects beneficial to Entergy’s generation plants, as well as to the company’s customer service territory.
Entergy Corporation is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, and it is the second-largest nuclear generator in the United States. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.7 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. Entergy has annual revenues of over $10 billion and approximately 14,000 employees.
Environmental Defense, a leading nonprofit organization based in New York represents more than 400,000 members. Since 1967 it has linked science, economics and law to create innovative, equitable, and cost-effective solutions to the most urgent environmental problems.
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