December 6, 2012

Westport Volunteers in the Community Schools Program – Part 2

About a month ago, we told you about Westport’s involvement as a United Way corporate partner in their Community Schools Program. Three Westport employees (Teresa K., Kat W., Heidi C.) led a seven week program called, “Yarn Artists” which helped Grade 4 and 5 children to discover all the fun and creative things with yarn.
“I am happy to report that the collaboration between Westport, United Way and the Vancouver School Board has been a success,” Teresa said. “I had so much fun and I think the kids did as well, since they asked us to go back to the school the next term. I feel great that I get to share my interest with the children and that they have fun learning new skills.”

The Community Schools Program gives Westport an opportunity to contribute to our local Vancouver community beyond a traditional corporate giving program, and gives staff a way to personally contribute and volunteer.

The Driver's Seat Twitter Campaign: Michelle


In The Driver’s Seat of the Westport Twitter account for the next two weeks is Michelle T., who is based at Westport’s head office in Vancouver, Canada.

Michelle’s work on the human resources team at Westport puts her in daily contact with Westport employees in all buildings at Vancouver head office. She helps with recruiting, processing employee title and manager changes, and general human resources program review and maintenance. Clearly, the enjoyment she tells me she receives from meeting new people and helping employees makes her well-suited to her role!

Until her recent graduation, Michelle’s time outside work was occupied with school (congratulations Michelle). Now her well-earned free time is spent spoiling her yellow lab Bailey, enjoying fashion blogs, and a love of shopping for shoes! She put herself through school decorating cakes, so she now has fun taking cake decorating classes for pleasure. A west coast girl, Michelle is a fan of seafood, especially eating fresh steamed crab right on the beach.

Michelle is particularly excited she was a winning bidder in our recent internal auction supporting United Way. She will have one of the Westport-WiNG power system-equipped Ford F-250 trucks for a weekend. And what will she do with it? “Just drive it around! I may take it up to Whistler for a day.”

As mentioned, Westporters are taking turns in The Driver's Seat of our Twitter account (@WestportDotCom). To date we've heard from Nick SCarolineJohn L & John HAstridLanceMonica FFabioNicoleRonghuanMaureenManojMats and Tomas, and MelissaBradJonathan and Tina.

December 4, 2012

Westport Joins Over 120 Companies to Call for a Price on Carbon

Westport recently joined over 120 global companies including Royal Dutch Shell and Unilever to call on governments around the world to put a price on carbon. The Carbon Price Communiqué is a historic call for action coordinated by the Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Network for Climate Action in association with the World Business Council on Sustainable Development and the International Emissions Trading Association. Bringing together a broad coalition of stakeholders, the Carbon Price Communiqué signals the readiness of leading companies to tackle one of the most urgent challenges of the 21st century. It also underscores the importance of regulatory certainty for reducing greenhouse gas emissions while encouraging growth in energy, transport and the built environment.

Launched on November 19th, 2012, the Communiqué is being presented to all Parties at the ongoing UNFCCC COP18 negotiations at Doha. The Carbon Price Communiqué is the sixth Communiqué to be issued by the Corporate Leaders Network for Climate Action, however it is the first to advocate for a specific policy action. The Communiqué argues that “A clear, stable, ambitious and cost effective policy framework is essential to underpin the investment needed to deliver substantial greenhouse gas emissions reductions” and that “putting a clear, transparent and unambiguous price on carbon must be a core policy objective.”

We believe it’s good environmental and public policy to broadly apply carbon pricing to encourage a shift to lower-carbon fuels and drive innovation. Westport’s world-leading natural gas engine technologies help reduce emissions from the transportation sector, and we strongly support policies that lead to reductions in climate changing greenhouse gas emissions. Many jurisdictions around the world have implemented or are contemplating a carbon price and, according to the European Environment Agency, 33 will have a carbon tax as of 2013. Closer to home, the preliminary findings from British Columbia’s four-year-old carbon tax suggest that fossil fuel consumption patterns are indeed changing, and that investment in clean technology has jumped by 50 percent over three years (KPMG, Clean Tech Report Card, 2011). We are pleased to support the Carbon Price Communiqué in its call to raise awareness and advance a carbon pricing policy that is stable, clear, transparent, and ambitious.