Conservation International Awarded $1 Million Grant from Bank of America Charitable Foundation

Funds support CI's Center for Environmental Leadership in Business promoting private sector environmental stewardship

CHARLOTTE, N.C., June 13 /PRNewswire/ -- The Bank of America Charitable Foundation last night announced a $1 million grant to Conservation International's Center for Environmental Leadership in Business (CELB) to promote private-sector environmental stewardship. The grant - awarded at Conservation International's 11th Annual New York Dinner - is part of Bank of America's $20 billion, 10-year environmental initiative to reduce climate change through lending, investing, the creation of new products and services, philanthropy and operations.

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"As one of the world's largest financial institutions, Bank of America understands that it has a tremendous opportunity and responsibility to address global climate change," said Anne Finucane, Chief Marketing Officer and Chair of Bank of America's Environmental Council. "Conservation International created the Center for Environmental Leadership in Business with a mission that aligns with our own: to promote business practices that reduce industry's environmental footprint and contribute to conservation."

Conservation International created CELB to engage the global business sector in creating solutions to critical global environmental problems in which industry plays a defining role. To achieve this vision, CELB and its small core staff of experts work to create partnerships with businesses, scientists, conservationists, and local communities around the world aimed at triggering widespread adoption of policies and practices that make the industry a positive force for conservation. To succeed, CELB believes these efforts must generate value for the companies involved.

Most recently, CELB identified a set of ambitious five-year goals that will set a new standard for private-sector environmental stewardship and address climate change. Financial support from the Bank of America Charitable Foundation will help achieve some of these key outcomes, including:

  -- Spurring a minimum of 30 major companies to adopt, implement and
     communicate about environmental best-practice guidelines and
     supply-chain incentives
  -- Developing a robust market for carbon offsets from forestry-based
     sources such as forest preservation and reforestation
  -- Engaging leading businesses in at least 15 on-the-ground initiatives in
     key landscapes and marine regions where CI is working to conserve
     threatened biodiversity and improve human livelihoods
  -- Leveraging $100 million from the private sector for investment in CI's
     conservation efforts

"Bank of America has been one of our longest-standing and most valued corporate partners, with a real appreciation and understanding of public-private partnerships," said Peter Seligman, CEO of Conservation International. "Companies with a global presence have an opportunity to shift the impact of their activities from environmental harm to ecological stewardship, and this partnership with Bank of America will help catalyze this transformation."

Bank of America's environmental initiatives provide critical financing to encourage the development of environmentally sustainable products and technologies; accelerate the deployment of existing technologies; and increase energy efficiency. Results under these initiatives include investments in solar and other renewable energy efforts at schools, municipalities and businesses, and financing the preservation of redwood forests, among other efforts. At the same time, the company has policies in place against financing projects that would destroy primary moist tropical rainforests, certain endangered forests or companies involved in illegal logging.

For more information about Bank of America's environmental efforts, visit http://www.bankofamerica.com/environment .

Conservation International's Center for Environmental Leadership in Business (CELB)

Conservation International (CI) created the Center for Environmental Leadership in Business (CELB) to engage the private sector worldwide in creating solutions to critical global environmental problems in which industry plays a defining role. CELB promotes business practices that reduce industry's ecological footprint, contribute to conservation and create value for the companies that adopt them. The result is a net benefit for the global environment and for participating companies.

Bank of America Corporate Philanthropy

Building on a long-standing tradition of investing in the communities it serves, Bank of America will embark in 2009 on a new, ten-year goal to donate $2 billion to nonprofit organizations engaged in improving the health and vitality of their neighborhoods. Funded by Bank of America, the Bank of America Charitable Foundation gave more than $200 million in 2007, making the bank the most generous financial institution in the world and the second largest donor of all U.S. corporations in cash contributions. Bank of America approaches giving through a national strategy called "neighborhood excellence" under which it works with local leaders to identify and meet the most pressing needs of individual communities. Through Team Bank of America, bank associate volunteers contributed more than 650,000 hours in 2007 to enhance the quality of life in their communities nationwide. For more information about Bank of America Corporate Philanthropy, please visit http://www.bankofamerica.com/foundation .

SOURCE: Bank of America

CONTACT: Colleen Haggerty of Bank of America, +1.213.621.7414 ,
Colleen.Haggerty@bankofamerica.com

Web site: http://www.bankofamerica.com/