Office Depot Recognized by EPA as One of Nation's Leading Green Power Purchasers

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced that Office Depot (NYSE:ODP), a leading global provider of office products and services, was named to the EPA’s list of the nation’s Top 10 Retail Partners in the Green Power Partnership. The Green Power Partnership includes companies that are environmental leaders in their communities and are proactively reducing risks related to climate change. The Top 10 Retail Partners list recognizes those companies that have completed the largest annual voluntary green power purchases for 2006. Receiving this recognition for the first time, Office Depot was also acknowledged by the EPA for being one of the largest Green Power Partners in the Fortune 500. Earlier this year, Office Depot made a voluntary purchase of 76 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power, representing 12 percent of the company’s total annual electricity usage. The EPA estimates that Office Depot’s purchase is equivalent to avoiding the CO2 emissions of more than 10,000 passenger cars per year, or avoiding the equivalent CO2 emissions associated with nearly 5.5 million gallons of gasoline annually (based on the national average utility sub region emissions rates). According to the EPA, green power purchases are critical in that they accelerate the development of new renewable energy capacity nationwide. Office Depot’s primarily wind and biogas renewable energy certificates (RECs) were purchased from Cadence Network, Inc., via Clear Sky Power, and Strategic Energy. "We are very proud to be recognized by the EPA in both the Top 10 retail and Fortune 500 lists,” said Yalmaz Siddiqui, Environmental Strategy Advisor for Office Depot. "Using green power is part of Office Depot’s environmental vision to increasingly ‘Buy Green,’ ‘Be Green’ and ‘Sell Green.’ By increasing demand for renewable energy we not only offset our own greenhouse gases, but also send a message to other companies that using clean energy is an important long-term business decision.” "EPA applauds Office Depot’s leadership in green power purchasing and its support of EPA’s Fortune 500 Green Power Challenge,” said Bill Wehrum, EPA's acting assistant administrator for Air and Radiation. "We encourage all of America’s Fortune 500 companies to purchase green power and demonstrate that what’s good for the environment is also good for business.” "Green power” includes electricity that is partially or entirely generated from clean resources, such as solar, wind, geothermal, biogas, biomass and low-impact hydro. Green power is considered cleaner than conventional sources of electricity and has lower carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, a greenhouse gas linked to global climate change. The U.S. EPA’s list of the Top 10 Retail Partners in the Green Power Partnership is updated quarterly and available at http://www.epa.gov/greenpower/partners/top10retail.htm. About Office Depot Office Depot provides more office products and services to more customers in more countries than any other company. Incorporated in 1986 and headquartered in Delray Beach, Fla., Office Depot has annual sales of nearly $15 billion, and employs approximately 50,000 associates around the world. Currently, the Company sells to customers directly or through affiliates in 42 countries. Office Depot is a leader in every distribution channel -- from retail stores and contract delivery to catalogs and e-commerce. As of September 30, 2006, Office Depot had 1,121 retail stores in North America and another 323 stores, either company-owned, licensed or franchised, in other parts of the world. Office Depot serves a wide range of customers through a dedicated sales force, telephone account managers, direct mail offerings, and multiple web sites. With $4.2 billion in online sales during the last twelve months, the Company is also one of the world’s largest e-commerce retailers. Office Depot’s common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ODP and is included in the S&P 500 Index. Additional press information can be found at: http://mediarelations.officedepot.com.