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Big news: Governor Schwarzenegger Announces First-in-the-Nation Green Products Innovation Institute to be Headquartered in California

Institute will Advance Green Chemistry, Spur Economic Growth and Competition & Help Create Safe Products for People and the Environment

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today joined academic, business, government and environmental leaders in announcing the formation of the first-in-the-nation, non-profit Green Products Innovation Institute (GPII). The Institute will be headquartered in San Francisco, California and dedicated to developing comprehensive chemical standards for every day products that are safe and healthy for humans and the environment.

“California has the most comprehensive Green Chemistry program in the world, and our leadership in ensuring the products we use every day are safe for our families and environment has resulted in the Green Products Innovation Institute choosing to headquarter here in California,” said Governor Schwarzenegger. “This Institute will revolutionize the way we design products and serve as a benchmark for those who aspire to set new standards of environmental and human health and safety for all products sold in California.”

Building on California’s groundbreaking innovation and environmental leadership, the GPII will collaborate with public and private entities to provide companies, government and consumers data on the toxicity characteristics of chemicals and materials used in products. This will allow industries to not only identify chemicals of concern, but also identify the positive chemicals that can be used to replace them.

GPII will help transform how companies design, manufacture and use chemicals – driving a new era in research, innovation, economic growth and competition in the green chemistry sector. GPII will work to advance the framework outlined in the book “Cradle to Cradle,” authored by architect and designer William McDonough and Dr. Michael Braungart, co-founders of GPII. The Institute will help implement this framework by working with industries to create cleaner water and eliminate the concept of waste while creating healthy products.

“California is the perfect birthplace for this Institute, but ultimately its reach is global, and it has been our long-held wish to see the principles of Cradle to Cradle applied globally,” said William McDonough, co-founder of the Green Products Innovation Institute. “Even before Michael and I wrote Cradle to Cradle in 2002, we have wished and worked for a safer and healthier world for ALL children of ALL species. That world is not just a wish anymore—it is here now, thanks to Gov. Schwarzenegger, the donors and supporters of the Green Products Innovation Institute, and the people of California.”

Governor Schwarzenegger has made California a leader in green chemistry and in 2008 signed legislation to establish the first green chemistry program in the United States. Other actions the Governor has taken include:

Requesting California Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Linda Adams to establish a Green Chemistry Initiative to develop policy options for implementing a green chemistry program. Instead of making chemical policy through the legislature on a case-by-case basis, the goal of this initiative is to work with scientists from California and around the world to evaluate the health effects of chemicals and possible alternatives with a systematic and comprehensive approach that is science-based.
Building on the Green Chemistry Initiative by signing AB 1879 and SB 509 in 2008. This legislation will move California on the path toward the first comprehensive green chemistry program in the U.S., which will reduce or eliminate hazardous chemicals in products and the environment.
Signing SB 484 in 2005 creating the nation’s first law to require the disclosure of chemicals in cosmetics.
Signing SB 1379 in 2006 starting the nation’s first bio-monitoring program and making California the only state that measures and catalogues human exposure to chemicals.

Source: http://gov.ca.gov/press-release/15211