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Bank of America Wins Top Environmental Leadership Award from California Governor

Recognized for Pioneering Sustainable Practices Across Business Lines

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced yesterday that Bank of America won the 2008 Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award (GEELA) for its pioneering efforts to integrate environmental values and conservation of natural resources into long-term decision-making and management of businesses and facilities. Among the winners, Bank of America is the only GEELA honoree from the financial services sector.

GEELA is California's highest and most prestigious environmental honor. The award recognizes individuals, organizations and businesses that have demonstrated exceptional leadership for voluntary achievements in conserving California’s resources, protecting and enhancing the environment, and building public-private partnerships.

Bank of America’s environmental commitment is quantified by a number of measures, most notably a $20 billion, 10-year initiative, announced in 2007 to encourage the development of environmentally sustainable business practices through lending, investing, the creation of new products and services, and operations.

“Bank of America has a legacy of environmental leadership in California dating back two decades, and our new national environmental initiative now embeds environmental sustainability into all business lines as a way to drive the green economy,” said Janet Lamkin, President, Bank of America California. “Nowhere is this environmental commitment more evident than in California, where Bank of America has created innovative partnerships with municipalities, businesses and nonprofits to support exciting projects ranging from schools operating on solar energy to preserving 50,000 acres of redwood forest – all as models of profitable green business investment.”

The GEELA was awarded to Bank of America for a range of environmental efforts and practices impacting California. These include:

• Solar school projects in partnership with Chevron Energy Solutions for the San José and Milpitas Unified School Districts that create what are believed to be the largest solar and energy efficient projects at K-12 schools in America.
• Financing the first ever Clean Renewable Energy Bonds (CREB) in California to finance solar projects for cities, beginning with Palo Alto.
• Redwood forest preservation through a first of its kind $65 million loan to the nonprofit Redwood Forest Foundation to purchase 50,000 acres of timberland.
• Financing a company’s conversion of fleet garbage trucks to run on compressed natural gas.
• Green construction projects for businesses large and small, from San Diego to Sacramento.
• Reimbursing $3,000 to associates who buy new hybrid cars, including more than 500 associates in California in the past two years.
• Building its greenest retail banking center ever in Southern California, seeking to achieve the highest LEED-platinum certification standards.
• Installing new energy saving HVAC control systems in more than 140 locations, and updating lighting in 680 facilities with the next generation of fluorescent lighting statewide.

GEELA Award recipients are chosen in eight different categories based on their strength in eight specific areas including results, transferability, environmental impact, resource conservation, economic progress, innovation and uniqueness, pollution prevention, and environmental justice. Bank of America won an award for Sustainable Practices and Facilities.

The Governor's Environmental and Economic Leadership Awards program was established in 1993. The award program is administered by the California Environmental Protection Agency and the Resources Agency in collaboration with the State and Consumer Services Agency, the California Department of Food and Agriculture, and the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency.

Bank of America

Bank of America is one of the world's largest financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk-management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving more than 59 million consumer and small business relationships with more than 6,100 retail banking offices, more than 18,000 ATMs and award-winning online banking with more than 25 million active users. Bank of America offers industry leading support to more than 4 million small business owners through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients in more than 150 countries and has relationships with 99 percent of the U.S. Fortune 500 companies and 83 percent of the Fortune Global 500. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE: BAC) is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Learn more about Bank of America’s $20 billion, 10-year commitment.

For more information on GEELA and this year's award recipients, visit the Cal/EPA Web site.