WATERBURY, Vt. —
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. solicited proposals this week from nonprofit organizations working to address climate change, with plans to hand out $800,000 in grants.
The Vermont-based company will award four nonprofits $200,000 in grants each for their work battling climate change in one of four areas: transportation, building political will, individual empowerment and threats to coffee-growing communities.
The grants will be paid over a five-year period. Winning organizations must also agree to meet with Green Mountain Coffee Roasters and each other twice a year to share experiences and help one another reduce their carbon footprints.
The company is opening up its grant selection process to the public by putting the proposals online at JustMeans.com and allowing visitors to vote for their favorite, or follow the process via Twitter.
By the end of the week, the company had received more than three dozen entries to the site, some more developed than others, such as the Environmental Impact Initiative, a nonprofit that’s developed an incentive program for fuel-efficient taxi upgrades, and Green Renters, a group working to align incentives for landlords and tenants to boost energy efficiency in buildings.
The grant awards are part of a larger companywide campaign called "Changing Climate Change," which also includes employee incentives, carbon offsets and direct emissions reductions. The company said last week it was going to build a 100 kW solar photovoltaic system at its Vermont headquarters, which it said will be the state’s largest.
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, which trades on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol GMCR, has been lauded in recent days for its financial performance, with its earnings growing year-over-year for eight straight quarters.