The EPA on Monday honored 39 individuals, organizations and companies from around the world for their outstanding efforts to protect the Earth's climate and stratospheric ozone layer, according to an agency release.

The 2008 Climate Protection Award and  2008 Stratospheric Ozone Layer Protection Award winners demonstrated ingenuity and leadership by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, negotiating international agreements to protect the ozone layer and climate, and spreading awareness about the importance of these issues, said the agency.

The 10th annual Climate and Ozone Layer Protection Awards were presented at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., notable winners included Austin Energy, Megtec Systems and Xerox Corp. in climate, and Paul Atkins, Ph.D., and the Kingdom of Bahrain for ozone.

For further information and to learn what winners did to earn the awards, visit: www.epa.gov/cppd/climateawards and http://www.epa.gov/ozone/awards.