6.18.2002 ET

(CSRwire) NEW YORK, New York - Citigroup and the Alliance for Environmental Innovation announced they have teamed up to help reduce the environmental impact of copy paper. Together the Alliance, a project of Environmental Defense, and Citigroup will work to increase the recycled content in copy paper, reduce copy paper use, and develop environmental evaluation criteria for paper suppliers.

As part of this project, Citigroup worked with the Alliance and paper suppliers and began testing 30% postconsumer recycled copy paper for internal use in April. This month, a second round of testing began. If successful, Citigroup will recommend the purchase of postconsumer recycled copy paper for all U.S. operations, generating significant environmental benefits.

"Citigroup salutes and strongly supports the work being done by the Alliance for Environmental Innovation and is pleased to partner with them on this project," said Pamela P. Flaherty, senior vice president of Global Community Relations at Citigroup. "Our company is strongly committed to helping preserve the environment for future generations and we look forward to having our employees become actively involved in finding ways to create environmentally beneficial results when producing and using copy paper."

"The myth of the 'paperless office' is just that. Even with a move towards paperless technologies, the amount of copy paper used continues to increase dramatically, causing significant environmental impacts," said Jackie Cefola project manager of the Alliance for Environmental Innovation. "We look forward to working with Citigroup to reduce the water and energy consumption, air pollution and solid waste associated with copy paper, and set an important example for other service firms."

The Citigroup/Alliance copy paper project will be carried out by a team with members from both organizations. Citigroup employees participating on the team will represent areas including business services, purchasing, marketing, and environmental affairs. The project's success will be measured by the extent to which it delivers significant and measurable reductions in energy and resource use, solid waste, and pollution; proves that environmental improvements to copy paper practices are economically and functionally viable; and drives positive change for other service firms. Under the terms of the voluntary agreement, each organization will continue with its own business and advocacy activities and will independently pay its own expenses.

The Alliance for Environmental Innovation, a project of Environmental Defense, works cooperatively with companies to create environmental solutions that make business sense. For more information, please visit www.environmentaldefense.org/alliance.

Environmental Defense, a leading national nonprofit organization based in New York, represents more than 300,000 members. Since 1967, Environmental Defense has linked science, economics, and law to create innovative, equitable, and cost-effective solutions to the most urgent environmental problems. Please see www.environmentaldefense.org for more information. Environmental Defense has traditional banking services and an affinity card agreement with Citibank, USA, a brand under Citigroup. For more information about the affinity card, please see www.edefensecard.com.

Citigroup (NYSE: C), the preeminent global financial services company with some 200 million customer accounts in more than 100 countries, provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, insurance, securities brokerage, and asset management. Major brand names under Citigroup's trademark red umbrella include Citibank, CitiFinancial, Primerica, Salomon Smith Barney, Banamex, and Travelers. Additional information may be found at: www.citigroup.com.

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