"Whatever political solution the global community agrees on with regard to the best mechanism for collectively addressing climate change, our company will continue its efforts to do our part"
Tom Catania
Whirlpool's vice president of government relations

Whirlpool Corporation, the largest supplier of appliances to the Rent to own industry, today announced that it is committed to reducing its global greenhouse gas emissions by 3 percent from its 1998 emissions level.

Whirlpool expects to achieve this reduction target by 2008 while also increasing global home appliance production by nearly 40 percent over the same 10-year period.

The 3-percent cut in carbon emissions translates into an annual reduction of approximately 4 million metric tons, or a more than 15-million-metric-ton reduction from Whirlpool's 1998 emissions level. The 15-million-ton reduction annually is equivalent to the carbon emissions released by 28 coal-fired power plants or 10 million U.S. cars.

Whirlpool made its announcement in Milan, Italy, during the ninth meeting of the Conference of the Parties of the Kyoto Protocol.

"Whatever political solution the global community agrees on with regard to the best mechanism for collectively addressing climate change, our company will continue its efforts to do our part, while at the same time bring unique, innovative and energy-efficient products to our customers," said Tom Catania, Whirlpool's vice president of government relations. He added that Whirlpool believes that enough is known about the issue of global climate change to indicate that a prudent and responsible course of action is for companies globally to initiate steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Most of Whirlpool's efforts to achieve its emissions reduction through 2008 will be focused on its continued industry leadership drive to produce energy-efficient home appliances. These efforts will help to sharply reduce the emissions of electrical utilities, which produce the power that runs appliances.