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Despite efforts from Washington to sideline action on climate change, a growing number of Fortune 500 companies are taking increasingly ambitious steps to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, procure more renewable energy and reduce their energy bills through energy efficiency, according to a new report released today from World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Ceres, Calvert Research and Management (Calvert) and CDP.

Weber State University has saved $1.4 million by reducing energy consumption since 2013, following the purchase of a system enabling real-time data at the sub-meter level for its entire portfolio of energy systems and using Lucid's BuildingOS to make performance data instantly accessible.

The US Green Building Council joined the Global Energy Efficiency Accelerator Platform, a membership initiative with the goal to double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency by 2030. The program was launched during the UN Climate Summit two months ago under UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon's Sustainable Energy for All initiative.

The Building Energy Exchange, a nonprofit to advance energy efficient technologies and lighting strategies in industry, opened in New York City's downtown Manhattan. The nonprofit serves as a hub for information and activities for building owners seeking energy savings.

Announced today at Climate Week NYC 2017 in New York, global financial institutions Citi and JPMorgan Chase & Co. have joined The Climate Group's RE100 campaign with CDP, committing to source 100% renewable power across their global operations by 2020. Other companies joining the RE100 initiative are one of the fastest-growing beverage companies, Califia Farms, and UK investment management company Jupiter Asset Management. The announcements follow news last week that The Estée Lauder Companies, Kellogg Company, DBS Bank and Clif Bar & Company have also joined RE100. 110 of the world's most influential companies are now generating demand for over 150 TWh renewable energy annually - more than enough to power New York State.

The Boston Green Ribbon Commission reports that Boston-based hospitals reduced total energy use by 6% in 2013 compared to 2011 levels. The reduction in energy use resulted in around $11.9 million in cost savings since 2011.

Procter & Gamble has saved almost $2 billion through waste and energy savings since 2007, according to P&G vice president of sustainability Len Sauers, who announced the cost savings as the company released its latest sustainability report today.

Nevada utility NV Energy helped a Las Vegas school district save $2.25 million and avoid 21.4 million KW-h of electricity consumption per year by installing energy-efficient lighting at 152 schools. The project also enabled the school district to earn $790,000 in utility rebates during the 2012 fiscal year

Hulu is in the process of migrating its data centers to a 100% renewable energy facility in Las Vegas operated by multi-tenant data center provider Switch. The video-on-demand company says the move will eliminate 265,000 carbon tons of emissions from the environment while powering millions of stable and secure streams a week.

Due to Con Edison's Green Team, Columbia University saved more than $700,000 a year in energgy costs through upgrades to the water-chilling system

General Motors' enterprise data center in Detroit cut energy consumption 70% by installing a flywheel for battery-free backup power and implementing in-row cooling techniques. The facility also achieved LEED Gold certification.

Mars Chocolate North America achieved zero-waste-to-landfill at all 10 of its manufacturing facilities. The company plans to achieve zero-waste to-landfill across all business segments by 2015.

Sainsbury's supermarket in Leicester, which opens today, is one of two "triple-zero" stores the retailer has just opened. It emits zero CO2 from all operational energy used, zero waste goes to landfill, and the store has zero impact on the water usage of the local catchment area because of its "water-neutral" status, the UK grocery chain says.

Apple announced plans to build a new $921 million data center in Denmark that runs on 100% renewable energy.

Columbia, Md.,-based W.R. Grace & Co. under its bankruptcy plan of reorganization, paid over $63 million to the US government to resolve claims for environmental cleanups at approximately 39 sites in 21 states, the US Department of Justice and the EPA announced today

France introduced restrictions on Paris drivers today, allowing them to use their cars only on alternate days, as the city deals with a bad bout of smog.

Lego Group today pledged to work with its suppliers to reduce total carbon emissions as it joins the World Wildlife Federation's Climate Savers program. If Lego reduced CO2 emissions directly related to toy production at Lego factories by a minimum of 10 percent - the target - this would remove about 10,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions, the toy manufacturer says.

Global warming is "unequivocal" and humans are turning up the heat - but more slowly since 1998, according to a report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released today.