SAN DIEGO, Aug. 21, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE) today released its fifth annual corporate responsibility report, chronicling the company's priorities and performance in a wide range of sustainability-related areas.

Sempra Energy's 2012 corporate responsibility report, titled "Fueling the future, responsibly," outlines the company's ongoing efforts to meet rising demand for lower-carbon energy, engage with stakeholders and manage risk.

"With a sharp focus on cleaner fuels, new infrastructure and enhanced safety, the energy industry is in the midst of a significant transformation," said Debra L. Reed, chairman and chief executive officer of Sempra Energy. "Our latest corporate responsibility report describes how we employ a low-carbon approach -- in the context of clear priorities and strong stakeholder engagement -- to sustainably develop and deliver safe and reliable energy for our customers."

Highlights from the report include the following 2012 achievements:

• Low carbon emissions rate: The Sempra Energy family of companies has a carbon-dioxide emissions rate approximately 40-percent below the national average.
• Renewable energy: San Diego Gas & Electric provided more than 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources. Sempra U.S. Gas & Power brought more than 850 megawatts of renewable energy online, completing two major solar-power projects and three wind-power projects, in partnership with BP Wind.
• Public and workplace safety: The Sempra Energy family of companies conducted operations without a single employee or contractor-related injury or fatality. Sempra Energy's subsidiaries safely operate more than 123,000 miles of natural gas pipelines and 47,000 miles of electric transmission and distribution power lines, as well as natural gas and renewable energy infrastructure.
• Energy efficiency: San Diego Gas & Electric achieved 325 gigawatthours of energy savings, or enough energy for 54,000 homes for a year, while Southern California Gas Co. saved 32 million therms of natural gas, or enough energy to heat 10,551 homes for a year. Both achievements exceeded the utilities' 2012 targets.

Sempra Energy's corporate responsibility report is available online in a PDF or interactive flipbook format.

Sempra Energy has four principal subsidiaries: Southern California Gas Co., San Diego Gas & Electric, Sempra U.S. Gas & Power and Sempra International. San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Gas Co. are regulated utilities that provide electricity and natural gas service to more than 20 million California consumers. Sempra U.S. Gas & Power has solar, wind and natural gas-fueled power plants in the U.S. and also owns natural gas storage and pipeline facilities, as well as distribution utilities. Sempra International develops, builds and operates energy infrastructure assets and distributes electricity and natural gas to customers in Mexico, Chile and Peru.

Sempra Energy, based in San Diego, is a Fortune 500 energy services holding company with 2012 revenues of approximately $10 billion. The Sempra Energy companies' nearly 17,000 employees serve about 31 million consumers worldwide.

This press release contains statements that are not historical fact and constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements can be identified by words like "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "forecasts," "estimates," "may," "will," "would," "could," "should," "potential," "target," "outlook," "project," "maintain," "depends," "pursue" or similar expressions, or discussions of guidance, strategies, plans, goals, opportunities, projections, initiatives, objectives or intentions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance. They involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Future results may differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon various assumptions involving judgments with respect to the future and other risks, including, among others: local, regional, national and international economic, competitive, political, legislative and regulatory conditions and developments; actions and the timing of actions by the California Public Utilities Commission, California State Legislature, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, U.S. Department of Energy, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, California Energy Commission, California Air Resources Board, and other regulatory, governmental and environmental bodies in the United States and other countries where the company does business; capital market conditions, including the availability of credit and the liquidity of investments; inflation, interest and exchange rates; the impact of benchmark interest rates, generally Moody's A-rated utility bond yields, on the California utilities' cost of capital; the timing and success of business development efforts and construction, maintenance and capital projects, including risks inherent in the ability to obtain, and the timing of the granting of, permits, licenses, certificates and other authorizations; energy markets, including the timing and extent of changes and volatility in commodity prices; the availability of electric power, natural gas and liquefied natural gas, including disruptions caused by failures in the North American transmission grid, pipeline explosions, equipment failure and the decommissioning of SONGS; weather conditions, natural disasters, catastrophic accidents, and conservation efforts; risks inherent with nuclear power facilities and radioactive materials storage, including catastrophic release of such materials, the disallowance of the recovery of the investment in, or operating costs of, the nuclear facility due to an extended outage, and increased regulatory oversight; risks posed by decisions and actions of third parties who control the operations of investments in which the company does not have a controlling interest; wars, terrorist attacks and cyber security threats; business, regulatory, environmental and legal decisions and requirements; expropriation of assets by foreign governments and title and other property disputes; the impact on reliability of SDG&E's electric transmission and distribution system due to increased power supply from renewable energy sources; the impact on competitive customer rates of the growth in distributed and local power generation and the corresponding decrease in demand for power delivered through our electric transmission and distribution system; the inability or determination not to enter into long-term supply and sales agreements or long-term firm capacity agreements; the resolution of litigation; and other uncertainties, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the control of the company. These risks and uncertainties are further discussed in the most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q that Sempra Energy has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These reports are available through the EDGAR system free-of-charge on the SEC's website, www.sec.gov, and on the company's website at www.sempra.com.

We caution you not to rely unduly on any forward-looking statement. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and the company undertakes no obligation to update or revise these forecasts or projections or other forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Sempra International, LLC, and Sempra U.S. Gas & Power, LLC, are not the same companies as San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) or Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) and Sempra International, LLC and Sempra U.S. Gas & Power, LLC are not regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission. Sempra International's underlying entities include Sempra Mexico and Sempra South American Utilities. Sempra U.S. Gas & Power's underlying entities include Sempra Renewables and Sempra Natural Gas.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110108/SEMPRAENERGYLOGO)

SOURCE Sempra Energy