- Twenty-five years advancing sustainable business practices
- Investments powering a lower-carbon future
- Achievements progressing across four sustainability pillars
SAN DIEGO, May 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Sempra (NYSE: SRE) (BMV: SRE) today released its 2022 Corporate Sustainability Report highlighting its commitment to sustainable business practices designed to drive growth and advance the company's mission to be North America's premier energy infrastructure company.
"Sustainable business practices have been championed by our employees since our company's founding 25 years ago, creating a long-lasting positive impact for all we are privileged to serve," said Jeffrey W. Martin, chairman and chief executive officer of Sempra. "Our strong corporate governance and management practices emphasize sustainability as an essential component of our business that not only mitigates risk but also contributes to new business opportunities that align with our values. I could not be more pleased by our collective progress."
The 2022 report emphasizes Sempra's deep-rooted commitment to sustainability and its integral role in shaping the company's corporate strategy, capital allocation and operational performance, with a view toward delivering measurable benefits for its stakeholders. The company believes this sustainability-centered approach has led to better, more predictable financial outcomes, demonstrating tangible value creation for its shareholders and other stakeholders. View the full report at: csr.sempra.com.
"Sempra is focused on our unwavering commitment to safety and innovative solutions to improve resiliency in communities we serve, while also strengthening energy security domestically and globally," said Lisa Larroque Alexander, senior vice president of corporate affairs and chief sustainability officer at Sempra. "Over the next five years, our capital campaign represents a road map of our plans to invest $40 billion in critical infrastructure to build next-generation energy networks aimed at delivering cleaner sources of energy. These investments will help advance the lower-carbon future for which we all aspire."
The report summarizes progress made throughout 2022 in pursuit of Sempra's business strategy to decarbonize its own operations while advancing a cleaner energy transition for consumers and the communities it serves. Of note, the 2022 report outlines important updates on Sempra's environmental, social and governance priorities including the company's advancements toward:
- Strengthening operational safety resulting in an 18% decrease in lost work-time incidents compared to 2021.
- Enhancing critical infrastructure to bring cleaner energy sources on to the grid and help increase safety and reliability through new investments.
- Empowering communities with $40 million in charitable contributions from the Sempra family of companies and the Sempra Foundation.
- Fostering a high-performing work culture driven by diversity, inclusion and shared values. In 2022, women presented 34% of our leadership and people of color made up 59% of the Sempra family of companies' U.S. workforce.
In addition to providing a holistic view of progress across its four sustainability pillars—enabling the energy transition, driving resilient operations, achieving world-class safety and championing people—the 2022 report features individual updates from the company's three growth platforms: Sempra California, Sempra Texas and Sempra Infrastructure. Each update of Sempra's three business platforms provides important insights into the enterprise-wide focus on sustainable growth underpinned by investments in cleaner energy solutions in some of North America's leading markets.
About Sempra
Sempra is a leading North American energy infrastructure company that helps meet the daily energy needs of nearly 40 million consumers. As the owner of one of the largest energy networks on the continent, Sempra is helping to electrify and decarbonize some of the world's most significant economic markets, including California, Texas, Mexico and the LNG export market. The company is also consistently recognized as a leader in sustainable business practices and for its long-standing commitment to building a high-performance culture focused on safety and operational excellence, leadership and workforce development and diversity and inclusion. Investor's Business Daily named Sempra the top-ranked utility in the U.S. for environmental, social and governance scores and financial performance. Sempra was also included on the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index for the 12th consecutive year. More information about Sempra is available at sempra.com and on Twitter @Sempra.
This press release contains statements that constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions with respect to the future, involve risks and uncertainties, and are not guarantees. Future results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statement. These forward-looking statements represent our estimates and assumptions only as of the date of this press release. We assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
In this press release, forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as "believes," "expects," "intends," "anticipates," "contemplates," "plans," "estimates," "projects," "forecasts," "should," "could," "would," "will," "confident," "may," "can," "potential," "possible," "proposed," "in process," "construct," "develop," "opportunity," "initiative," "target," "outlook," "optimistic," "poised," "maintain," "continue," "progress," "advance," "goal," "aim," "commit," or similar expressions, or when we discuss our guidance, priorities, strategy, goals, vision, mission, opportunities, projections, intentions or expectations.
Factors, among others, that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statement include risks and uncertainties relating to: California wildfires, including potential liability for damages regardless of fault and any inability to recover all or a substantial portion of costs from insurance, the wildfire fund established by California Assembly Bill 1054, rates from customers or a combination thereof; decisions, investigations, inquiries, regulations, issuances or revocations of permits, consents, approvals or other authorizations, renewals of franchises, and other actions by (i) the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), Comisión Reguladora de Energía, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Public Utility Commission of Texas, and other governmental and regulatory bodies and (ii) the U.S., Mexico and states, counties, cities and other jurisdictions therein and in other countries in which we do business; the success of business development efforts, construction projects and acquisitions and divestitures, including risks in (i) being able to make a final investment decision, (ii) completing construction projects or other transactions on schedule and budget, (iii) realizing anticipated benefits from any of these efforts if completed, and (iv) obtaining the consent or approval of third parties; litigation, arbitrations, property disputes and other proceedings, and changes to laws and regulations, including those related to the energy industry in Mexico; cybersecurity threats, including by state and state-sponsored actors, of ransomware or other attacks on our systems or the systems of third-parties with which we conduct business, including the energy grid or other energy infrastructure, all of which have become more pronounced due to recent geopolitical events; our ability to borrow money on favorable terms and meet our obligations, including due to (i) actions by credit rating agencies to downgrade our credit ratings or place those ratings on negative outlook or (ii) rising interest rates and inflation; failure of foreign governments, state-owned entities and our counterparties to honor their contracts and commitments; the impact on affordability of San Diego Gas & Electric Company's (SDG&E) and Southern California Gas Company's (SoCalGas) customer rates and their cost of capital and on SDG&E's, SoCalGas' and Sempra Infrastructure's ability to pass through higher costs to customers due to (i) volatility in inflation, interest rates and commodity prices, (ii) with respect to SDG&E's and SoCalGas' businesses, the cost of the clean energy transition in California, (iii) with respect to SDG&E's business, departing retail load resulting from additional customers transferring to Community Choice Aggregation and Direct Access, and (iv) with respect to Sempra Infrastructure's business, volatility in foreign currency exchange rates; the impact of climate and sustainability policies, laws, rules, regulations, disclosures and trends, including actions to reduce or eliminate reliance on natural gas, increased uncertainty in the political or regulatory environment for California natural gas distribution companies, the risk of nonrecovery for stranded assets, and our ability to incorporate new technologies; weather, natural disasters, pandemics, accidents, equipment failures, explosions, terrorism, information system outages or other events that disrupt our operations, damage our facilities or systems, cause the release of harmful materials or fires or subject us to liability for damages, fines and penalties, some of which may not be recoverable through regulatory mechanisms or insurance or may impact our ability to obtain satisfactory levels of affordable insurance; the availability of electric power, natural gas and natural gas storage capacity, including disruptions caused by failures in the transmission grid, pipeline system or limitations on the withdrawal of natural gas from storage facilities; Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC's (Oncor) ability to reduce or eliminate its quarterly dividends due to regulatory and governance requirements and commitments, including by actions of Oncor's independent directors or a minority member director; changes in tax and trade policies, laws and regulations, including tariffs, revisions to international trade agreements and sanctions, such as those imposed in connection with the war in Ukraine, any of which may increase our costs, reduce our competitiveness, impact our ability to do business with certain counterparties, or impair our ability to resolve trade disputes; and other uncertainties, some of which are difficult to predict and beyond our control.
These risks and uncertainties are further discussed in the reports that Sempra has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These reports are available through the EDGAR system free-of-charge on the SEC's website, www.sec.gov, and on Sempra's website, www.sempra.com. Investors should not rely unduly on any forward-looking statements.
Sempra Infrastructure, Sempra Infrastructure Partners, Sempra Texas, Sempra Texas Utilities, Oncor and Infraestructura Energética Nova, S.A.P.I. de C.V. (IEnova) are not the same companies as the California utilities, SDG&E or SoCalGas, and Sempra Infrastructure, Sempra Infrastructure Partners, Sempra Texas, Sempra Texas Utilities, Oncor and IEnova are not regulated by the CPUC.
SOURCE Sempra