Alston & Bird Partners Help Launch Green Products Innovation Institute

Alston & Bird partners Maureen Gorsen, Jon Gordon and Glenn Fox were instrumental in launching the Green Products Innovation Institute, a new California non-profit that will help establish standards for the safer and more eco-friendly production of consumer goods.  The standards will be used by California regulators when they begin enforcing a new state law that requires manufacturers to find more “green” means and materials to make consumer products, and could have much more expansive effects, as California is seen nationally as a leader in the industry.  “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,” announced Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger at the launch event.

 

Gorsen spearheaded Alston & Bird’s work with the Institute’s founders McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry to help get the non-profit off the ground and established in the state.  The Institute and its mission are supported by a large contingent of powerhouse backers, including the founder of YouTube, the wife of Google’s CEO, Wal-Mart, Shaw, Inc., Herman Miller, Steelcase and others.

 

The Institute’s launch has been extensively covered by the national and international media, including CNBC, the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times, among others.