Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, 18 July 2006 -- /PRNewswire/ -- Bank of America Corporation today announced an expansion of its partnership with The Nature Conservancy through a USD 500,000 contribution to fund alternative energy use in China.

The grant will help fund practical solutions to reduce the cutting of China's most sensitive forests for home heating, cooking, and construction. It will also deliver a replicable conservation tool to the Chinese government, moving China closer to its ambitious goal of reducing the cutting of wood by 75% in the most critically important areas of these forests over the next 10 years.

"At Bank of America, we promote healthy communities through progressive environmental practices, through community development lending and investing, through volunteerism, and through philanthropic giving to organizations like The Nature Conservancy," said Anne Finucane, Bank of America Global Marketing & Corporate Affairs executive and head of the company's environmental council.

"With this donation, Bank of America is helping make a positive environmental impact on China and its residents," she said.

Last year, Bank of America became a 9% shareholder of China Construction Bank (CCB). In making a strategic investment in one of the fastest growing economies in the world, Bank of America began providing advice and assistance to CCB in such areas as governance, risk management, credit cards, consumer banking, and treasury services designed to enhance the Chinese bank's performance.

The USD 1 million Nature Conservancy partnership focuses on U.S. reforestation and alternative energy use in China. Bank of America recently began donating USD 1 per account (up to USD 500,000) to The Nature Conservancy when customers elect to stop receiving paper versions of checking or savings account statements and decide to view them online instead. Bank of America has also partnered with The Nature Conservancy to offer a new credit card that contributes a percent of every purchase to supporting The Nature Conservancy.

About The Nature Conservancy

The Nature Conservancy is a leading international, nonprofit organization that preserves plants, animals, and natural communities representing the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. To date, the Conservancy and its more than 1 million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, and the Pacific. For more information, visit http://nature.org.

About the Bank of America

Bank of America is one of the world's largest financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle market businesses, and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management, and other financial and risk-management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving more than 54 million consumer and small business relationships with more than 5700 retail banking offices, more than 16,700 ATMs and online banking with more than 19 million active users. Bank of America is the No. 1 overall Small Business Administration (SBA) lender in the United States and the No. 1 SBA lender to minority-owned small businesses. The company serves clients in 175 countries and has relationships with 98% of the U.S. Fortune 500 companies and 79% of the Global Fortune 500. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE:BAC) is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.