22nd September, 2008

NSF International today announced a global strategic partnership with Trucost plc. The partnership will provide new environmental measurement, management and reporting services by combining Trucost's unique, patented methodology with NSF's environmental certification, verification and auditing services.

Simon Thomas, CEO of Trucost said, "This is an exciting time for us. NSF's partnership and investment validates Trucost's rigorous and evidence-based approach. We are able to help companies address the business costs of their environmental impacts in a timely, cost-effective and comparable manner. The partnership with NSF will leverage the Trucost model as the key to how some of the world's leading companies address their environmental performance."

"The agreement expands the global reach of both our companies," said Kevan P. Lawlor, President and CEO of NSF. "It will enable NSF to offer carbon traceability, environmental footprinting, supply chain analysis and global benchmarking to NSF's customer base in over 100 countries."

Mike Thomas, CEO to NSF-CMi, NSF's international food consulting, assurance and risk services arm, will take a position on the board of Trucost. He said, "This is a logical extension to the range and depth of services in our current portfolio and an important opportunity for us to offer Trucost's unique environmental and sustainability services to NSF-CMi's clients in the retail, hospitality, manufacturing and processing sectors. We are already developing a fast growing Risk Services business and the partnership with Trucost will enable us jointly to develop further services to help businesses manage the increasingly complex environment of legal, regulatory and social responsibility issues in which they operate."

For more information about the partnership or new service offerings, please contact Koen Bontinck, NSF Vice President of International Operations, at t + 32 2771 3654, bontinck@nsf.org or f + 32 2 763 0013. For more information on Trucost, please contact Patrick Racz, Head of Partnerships, Trucost Plc at +44 7917 404 473 or patrick.racz@trucost.com

Note to editors:

About Trucost Plc: Trucost Plc is a world-leading environmental research organisation, which helps companies and investors understand the environmental impacts of business activities (http://www.trucost.com). Trucost provides data and analysis on company emissions and natural resource usage in financial as well as quantity terms to help investors, fund managers and analysts understand how environmental issues could affect companies' future earnings. Institutional investors use the information to assess the carbon or environmental footprints of their portfolios, to identify differences in performance, to address environmental risks and create structured products with lower carbon or environmental impacts. Trucost has offered expert advice and research to major corporations, institutional investors and to government departments and associated agencies since its launch in 2000.

About NSF International: NSF International, an independent, not-for-profit organization, helps protect you by certifying products and writing standards for food, water and consumer goods (www.nsg.org). Founded in 1944, NSF is committed to protecting public health and safety worldwide. NSF is a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Food and Water Safety and Indoor Environment. Additional services include safety audits for the food and water industries, management systems registrations delivered through NSF International Strategic Registrations, organic certification provided by Quality Assurance International and education through the NSF Center for Public Health Education.

NSF-CMi, one of the most well-known and widely respected food assurance brands, leads NSF's international food assurance operations outside of North America, protecting consumers and enhancing business in the global food supply chain. It offers certification, consulting, technical and risk services which enable companies both to comply with legislative and industry standards and gain competitive advantage in their markets. Through its international network of offices it delivers its globally respected services and expertise to established and developing food supply operations in all regions of the world.

In addition to these services, NSF's other "green" service offerings include:

• The Sustainable Supplier Program, which assists companies in the development and launch of supplier oversight programs and supply chain sustainability audits.
• The Sustainable Product Certification Program, which certifies products to U.S. national sustainability standards and verifies a company's "green" product claim through audits, testing, reviews and protocol development.
• NSF International Strategic Registrations, which offers environmental management systems registrations, including Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) verification, ISO 14001 registration and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) verification.
• WaterSense^SM, a voluntary program sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) that protects the future of our nation's water supply by expanding the market for water-efficient products and services. NSF is an EPA Licensed Certification Body for the program.