SAN DIEGO – February 25, 2014 –  As California battles the worst drought in centuries, San Diego International Airport (SAN) today joined more than a dozen major California-based businesses and organizations – including Apple, SolarCity, Sungevity, and Sapphire Energy – in signing the Climate Declaration, a business leader call to action that urges federal and state policymakers to seize the economic opportunity of addressing climate change. The announcement was made at the U.S. Climate Leadership Conference today at the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay in San Diego.

SAN becomes the first airport in the U.S. to sign the declaration.  Other San Diego-based signatories include Sapphire Energy, Sullivan Solar, Renovate America and CleanTech San Diego, a trade association and clean tech cluster representing 800 clean tech companies.  View the full list of California signatories.

San Diego International Airport, owned and operated by the Airport Authority, was the country’s first major airport to adopt a formal sustainability policy in 2008 and the first to publish an annual Sustainability Report based on Global Reporting Initiative guidelines in 2012. It also actively pursues efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and is committed to achieving LEED certification in all new construction, among numerous other sustainability initiatives.

“We are proud that the San Diego International Airport is the first airport in the nation to sign the Climate Declaration,” said Thella F. Bowens, President/CEO of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, owner and operator of SAN. “We are pleased to join other signatories from the private and public sectors, from California and across the nation, in this unified and steadfast commitment to sustainability.”

Launched last year by Ceres, a nonprofit sustainability advocacy organization, and its business network, Business for Innovative Climate & Energy Policy (BICEP), the Climate Declaration has more than 750 signatories nationwide and 140 in California, including iconic brands like General Motors, Unilever, Gap, and eBay. The California signatories have added their own special message to the declaration for Washington:

“As the world’s 8th largest economy, California is a champion of clean energy progress and innovation,” states the declaration. “Thanks in part to its smart energy policies, including its landmark climate law, AB32, California has been a global leader in job creation, clean energy investments and GDP growth.”

California leads the nation in renewable energy development, with more than 43,700 jobs in 2012 in the solar industry (one-third of all solar jobs in the U.S.) and more than 7,000 jobs in the wind industry. In 2013, the state doubled its solar rooftop installations, from 1,000 megawatts to 2,000 megawatts. It also ranks 48^th in the country in per capita energy consumption, due in part to the state’s strong energy efficiency programs.

“The 140-plus California companies which have signed the Climate Declaration see the financial upside of tackling climate change today, both for their own bottom lines and the overall economy," said Anne Kelly, director of policy and BICEP at Ceres, the Boston-based sustainability advocacy group. “We welcome them, invite others to come on board and applaud the state of California for its bold, steadfast leadership on climate and energy policy.”

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Airport Authority