Scania in ethanol bus deal with Clinton foundation

BRUSSELS, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Swedish truckmaker Scania (SCVb.ST) will offer ethanol-powered buses at a reduced cost to 40 of the world's largest cities in a climate-change pact agreed with an arm of Bill Clinton's philanthropic foundation.

Scania executives said on Wednesday the company would be part of the Clinton Climate Initiative's (CCI) efforts to offer technology to big cities to help cut greenhouse gas emissions.

"We signed an agreement with (CCI) that we will enter into a procurement contract whereby we can supply our ethanol-powered buses to the cities within the initiative," Scania Senior Vice President Cecilia Edstrom told Reuters.

The 40 cities include Athens, Beijing, Chicago, London, Sao Paulo, and Sydney. Edstrom said the company would focus first on cities where Scania already has operations.

A standard ethanol-powered bus costs around 237,000 euros ($334,700), about 12,000 euros more than the diesel-powered version, another Scania executive said.

Scania would offer the ethanol buses to the cities at roughly the price as the diesel buses.

The CCI is part of the former U.S. president's charitable foundation.