ecomagination

As part of GE’s overall corporate effort to improve transparency, we issue an annual ecomagination report to track environmental goals as well as a separate citizenship report to highlight social responsibility initiatives. Throughout the year, we also provide updates on ecomagination through shareholder and analyst meetings.

Engaging the public through advertising

To inform the public further about ecomagination efforts, GE launched a series of new advertisements with a common refrain, "Now," and a shared theme, "Innovation you don't have to wait for." Included in the multi-faceted campaign was a focus on Smart Grid, GE’s vision for a more efficient electrical energy grid.

The campaign featured GE’s first Super Bowl ad, called "Scarecrow" that focused on Smart Grid technology. A modern take on the classic song, “If I Only Had a Brain,” from the film The Wizard of Oz, the ad imagines what can happen when old technologies become smarter.

The digital component of the campaign included a new microsite, www.PlugIntoTheSmartGrid.com, that features a breakthrough technology known as augmented reality. By augmenting real-world elements with digital holograms, the technology shows consumers a digital hologram of Smart Grid technology come to life. Word of the site spread virally across the web on blogs and YouTube as consumers interacted with the brand to learn more about Smart Grid technology.

Working toward GHG-reducing legislation

The United States Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), of which GE is a founding member, is a group of businesses and leading environmental organizations that have come together to call on the federal government to quickly enact strong national legislation to require significant reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. In 2009, the group created a proposal called a "Blueprint for Legislative Action," which calls for reductions between 14 and 20 percent of 2005 greenhouse gas levels by 2020 and an 80 percent reduction by 2050 through an economy-wide cap and trade program.

Ecomagination Advisory Board

For the third consecutive year, GE convened a group of nine energy and environment thought leaders serving on our ecomagination Advisory Board. This team advises the ecomagination team on critical environmental and business issues. The Board is also a venue for thought leaders to hear about what GE is doing. Current members of the Board include:

• James Cameron, Climate Change Capital
• Eileen Claussen, Pew Center on Global Climate Change
• Karen de Segundo, Consultant (former CEO, Shell International Renewables)
• Vinod Khosla, Khosla Ventures
• Jonathan Lash, World Resources Institute
• Richard Macrory, University College London
• Bill McDonough, William McDonough + Partners
• Ernest Moniz, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Dan Reicher, Google Corp.

GE holds this annual summit involving all Advisory Board members and representatives from many different GE business units. At this year's summit, the Advisory Board provided valuable input on commercial, technical and policy-related opportunities for GE in the key strategic areas of carbon capture, energy efficiency and global economic recovery projects. Receiving ongoing input from the advisory board is one way GE increases its engagement with the public and leading environmental experts. This input will continue to shape the growth of the ecomagination program as GE identifies new opportunities.