Rocky Mountain Institute Recognized for Innovative Business Resource Center Concept
Snowmass, Colorado (PRWEB) April 03, 2014 -- Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) announced today that its plan to educate Fortune 500 executives in an effort to increase renewable energy initiatives has been recognized as one of 12 finalists for the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit’s Finance for Resilience (FiRe) initiative. The nonprofit initiative identifies promising interventions based on scale and feasibility to accelerate global financing for clean energy. Rocky Mountain Institute will pitch its program on Wednesday, April 9 at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit in New York, where six winners will be selected.
Rocky Mountain Institute’s proposal centers on the creation of a nonprofit resource center, currently named the Business Renewables Resource Center (BR2C). The center’s key objective is to accelerate renewables penetration in the U.S by overcoming the informational and educational barriers that often prevent Fortune 500 companies from making investments in renewable energy projects. Hundreds of these companies have made commitments to shift toward renewables, but have yet to enact significant changes when compared to their energy profiles.
Large-scale investment in renewable energy projects requires that key decision makers in the finance, budgeting, legal and accounting departments have access to information that is pertinent to real-world deal making. Today, that information is expensive, hard to find and often unavailable to companies unless they have specific focuses in energy. RMI seeks to change that paradigm with a renewables attainment center that offers:
• Direct access to expert corporate transaction teams (procurement, legal, finance, accounting)
• Educational materials and case studies that are broadly available to help senior decision makers
green-light deals
• Resources for expanding geographically bounded opportunities
• Demand aggregation and auction platforms
“There is clearly a strong interest from Fortune 500 companies in becoming more sustainable, but many lack the institutional knowledge on how best to do so,” Jules Kortenhorst, chief executive officer of RMI. “Our renewables attainment center will change that, educating the key decision makers with information that will empower them to radically improve the energy profiles of their companies. We’re thrilled that FiRE recognizes the power of this concept to bring about substantial change.”
The 12 finalists were selected from 26 entries by a pre-selection panel. Summit attendees will vote for six overall winners, develop the ideas further in dedicated break-out sessions and participate in the future progress of the winners. The core FiRe team will track the winners’ progress until the next Summit in April 2015 and beyond.
About Rocky Mountain Institute
Since 1982, Rocky Mountain Institute has advanced market-based solutions that transform global energy use to create a clean, prosperous and secure future. An independent, nonprofit think-and-do tank, RMI engages with businesses, communities and institutions to accelerate and scale replicable solutions that drive the cost-effective shift from fossil fuels to efficiency and renewables. Please visit http://www.rmi.org for more information.
Press contact: kcarlson(at)rmi(dot)org
Kirsten Carlson, Rocky Mountain Institute, +1 (970) 927-7804, [email protected]
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