Southern California Gas Co. released its ASPIRE 2045 SoCalGas Sustainability Strategy, broadening its goals and benchmarks to be inclusive of environmental health, social equity, and wellbeing in the communities SoCalGas serves. The ASPIRE 2045 Sustainability Strategy highlights the value of setting measurable objectives and considering the positive impacts SoCalGas can have in its communities. Under the ASPIRE 2045 Sustainability Strategy, the energy company will take tangible steps towards a carbon neutral future, invest $50 million over five years into communities the company serves and work to advance racial and gender diversity in the workplace.
The strategy builds on the energy company's March 2021 goal to achieve net zero emissions in its operations and the energy it delivers by 2045. It also aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and California's climate objectives. The strategy identifies five sustainability focus areas:
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Accelerating the transition of clean energy
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Protecting the climate and improving local air quality
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Increasing clean energy access and affordability
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Advancing a diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture
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Achieving world-class safety
Each focus area has an overarching goal with specific strategies that are quantifiable and measurable, designed to provide transparency on SoCalGas' progress toward its sustainability goals. Examples include:
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Investing $50 million in the diverse communities the company serves, including education and workforce investments over the next five years
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Taking actions to grow representation of women in leadership roles and overall workforce by 2025
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Taking actions to lead the utility industry in racial and ethnic diversity representation in leadership roles by 2025
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Increasing SoCalGas total annual Disadvantaged Business Enterprise spend to 45% by 2025
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Enhancing SoCalGas' damage prevention program to decrease the rate of third-party pipeline dig-in damages 40% by 2030
Our sustainability strategy puts our environmental, social, and governance goals into action and is built on our core values of doing the right thing, championing people, and shaping the future. This will be an evolving strategy that we intend to build upon and use to hold ourselves accountable. At SoCalGas, we are committed to a collective, collaborative transition to a more sustainable energy future and this strategy will help guide us on our path to achieve that goal."
Jawaad Malik, SoCalGas vice president of strategy and sustainability and chief environmental officer
A key part of SoCalGas' Sustainability Strategy is pursuing its climate objectives with an increased focus on the use of clean fuels like hydrogen and renewable natural gas. In October, SoCalGas shared its Clean Fuels Whitepaper, a comprehensive technical analysis that examines how to achieve California's carbon neutrality goals through a more integrated, reliable, and affordable energy system.
SoCalGas has a goal to achieve a collective and collaborative transition to a decarbonized future, using its resilient infrastructure, improving local air quality through existing and emerging technologies, and creating a culture of diversity, inclusion, and safety with training and innovation.
About SoCalGas
Headquartered in Los Angeles, SoCalGas is the largest gas distribution utility in the United States. SoCalGas delivers affordable, reliable, and increasingly renewable gas service to 21.8 million consumers across 24,000 square miles of Central and Southern California. Gas delivered through the company's pipelines will continue to play a key role in California's clean energy transition—providing electric grid reliability and supporting wind and solar energy deployment.
SoCalGas' mission is to build the cleanest, safest and most innovative energy company in America. In support of that mission, SoCalGas is committed to the goal of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in its operations and delivery of energy by 2045 and to replacing 20 percent of its traditional natural gas supply to core customers with renewable natural gas (RNG) by 2030. Renewable natural gas is made from waste created by dairy farms, landfills, and wastewater treatment plants. SoCalGas is also committed to investing in its gas delivery infrastructure while keeping bills affordable for customers. SoCalGas is a subsidiary of Sempra, an energy services holding company based in San Diego.