TD To Purchase Renewable Power For Its B.C. Operations

At a launch event in Vancouver, TD Bank Financial Group announced its entire business in British Columbia will be "bullfrogpowered" with 100% low impact, renewable electricity beginning April 1.

In an expanded partnership with Bullfrog Power, TD will purchase an additional 22,500 MWh of renewable energy, equivalent to the electricity used by 139 TD Canada Trust branches, six TD Waterhouse Investor Centres, and eight corporate offices.

"Our decision to invest in renewable electricity for our B.C. operations is a key component of our strategy to be carbon neutral across our Canadian operations in 2010," said Karen Clarke-Whistler, Chief Environment Officer, TD Bank Financial Group. "We're thrilled Bullfrog is expanding into 'Beautiful British Columbia' and we support their commitment to bring on line new sources of clean, renewable energy."

TD was the first bank in Canada to commit to going carbon neutral and the bank's strategy focuses on the following three areas:

Â• Becoming more energy efficient and reducing energy use by retrofitting and re-designing buildings, offsetting travel, greening its fleet and vehicle programs, and more.

Â• Continuing to invest in clean and renewable energy to reduce TD's carbon emissions associated with electricity usage; in addition to its new BC investment, TD annually purchases nearly 6,500 MWh of renewable energy from emission-free generation sources such as wind power and low-impact water power to match the electricity used by its ABM network of 2,600 Green Machines.

Â• Launching the TD Emissions Reduction Fund, another Canadian banking first. The Fund will offset TD's remaining carbon emissions by, for example, working with various groups such as schools, hospitals and other non-profits to reduce their emissions through investments in clean technology and energy retrofit projects.

"TD's expanded partnership with Bullfrog is a strong show of support for the advancement of new renewable energy in Canada," said Tom Heintzman, President, Bullfrog Power. "TD has emerged as a leader in environmental citizenship. Their ongoing and increasing commitment to Bullfrog helps to raise awareness about the choice many Canadians now have to buy low-impact renewable energy for their own homes and businesses."