LOS ANGELES - Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) announced that it has been awarded the “Net Zero Strategy of the Year” at the Verdantix 2024 Climate Innovation Awards, which recognize and honor exceptional achievements in various areas of sustainability and climate action. The London-based market research firm selected SoCalGas for its ASPIRE 2045 sustainability strategy which builds upon the utility’s aim to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in its operations and delivery of energy.
ASPIRE 2045 has enabled the company to accomplish several milestones, including surpassing California’s goal of reducing fugitive methane emissions by 20% by 2025 and nearing the 2030 goal of 40%. SoCalGas has also converted more than one-third of its over-the-road fleet vehicles to alternative fuel vehicles, with an aim of achieving 50% alternative fuel vehicles by 2025, and a 100% zero emissions vehicle fleet by 2035. The utility continues to make advancements in decarbonizing the fuel it transports, delivering approximately 5% renewable natural gas to its core customers in 2023, with a goal of 20% by 2030.
“SoCalGas’ ASPIRE 2045 sustainability strategy has helped demonstrate the important role leveraging gas infrastructure can play in helping California reach its clean energy, clean air, and climate goals more quickly, more affordably, and more equitably,” said Jawaad Malik, Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer at SoCalGas. “By helping to scale sustainable solutions, utilities like SoCalGas can also help spur innovation that drives job creation, stimulates economic growth, and contributes to the social and environmental prosperity of the communities we serve.”
The ASPIRE 2045 sustainability strategy focuses on a holistic set of sustainable business priorities that include accelerating the transition to clean energy, protecting the climate, and improving air quality, increasing clean energy access and affordability, advancing a diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture, all while continuing to achieve world-class safety.
“Corporate responsibility has never been more critical and companies like SoCalGas underscore the importance of leadership in driving sustainable business success,” said Ryan Skinner, Head Judge of the Verdantix Climate Innovation Awards and Research Director, Net Zero and Climate Risk at Verdantix. “SoCalGas’ proactive efforts towards net-zero greenhouse gas emissions highlight the path businesses can take to help navigate future challenges, unlock new opportunities, and thrive in a carbon-neutral economy.”
SoCalGas was nominated for the award by Wolters Kluwer, a global leader in professional information, software solutions, and services. Wolters Kluwer’s data management system, Enablon, helps the utility streamline the tracking and reporting process of key performance indicators tied to the utility’s sustainability initiatives. The technology supports SoCalGas’ work to promote awareness, ownership, and accountability across departments and help to connect day-to-day activities to the utility’s larger sustainability goals.
“Leveraging innovative technology to monitor, report, analyze, and communicate progress on net-zero emissions and sustainability goals is becoming a critical imperative for businesses operating against an evolving ESG landscape,” said Laurent Dechaux, Senior Vice President and Managing Director at Wolters Kluwer Enablon. “We are delighted to work with SoCalGas to support the business in showcasing the practices utility companies can take to help secure a resilient and sustainable future.”
SoCalGas is a leader in sustainability and was among the first and largest natural gas distribution utilities to announce its aim to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045. SoCalGas was also recently honored with the top "Business Transformation Award from Reuters Events" from Reuters Events for establishing transformative sustainability priorities that have the potential to create impact at scale in their sector and beyond. One such transformative effort, SoCalGas’ [H2] Innovation Experience, a clean hydrogen microgrid demonstration project, has been named a World-Changing Idea by Fast Company and was also awarded the U.S. Green Building Council of L.A.’s Sustainable Innovation Award.
Learn more about SoCalGas’s sustainability efforts at https://www.socalgas.com/sustainability.
About SoCalGas
Headquartered in Los Angeles, SoCalGas is the largest gas distribution utility in the United States. SoCalGas aims to deliver affordable, reliable, and increasingly renewable gas service to approximately 21 million consumers across approximately 24,000 square miles of Central and Southern California. We believe gas delivered through our pipelines plays a key role in California's clean energy transition by supporting energy system reliability and resiliency and enabling integration of renewable resources.
SoCalGas' mission is to build the cleanest, safest, and most innovative energy infrastructure company in America. In support of that mission, SoCalGas aspires to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in its operations and delivery of energy by 2045 and to replace 20 percent of its traditional natural gas supply to core customers with renewable natural gas (RNG) by 2030. RNG can be made from waste created by landfills and wastewater treatment plants. SoCalGas is also investing in its gas delivery infrastructure while working to keep bills affordable for customers. SoCalGas is a subsidiary of Sempra(NYSE: SRE), an energy infrastructure company based in San Diego.
For more information visit socalgas.com/newsroom or connect with SoCalGas on X (formerly Twitter)(@SoCalGas), Instagram (@SoCalGas), Facebook.
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Factors, among others, that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statement include: decisions, investigations, inquiries, regulations, denials or revocations of permits, consents, approvals or other authorizations, renewals of franchises, and other actions, including the failure to honor contracts and commitments, by the (i) California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Internal Revenue Service and other regulatory bodies and (ii) U.S. and states, counties, cities and other jurisdictions therein where we do business; the success of business development efforts and construction projects, including risks related to (i) completing construction projects or other transactions on schedule and budget, (ii) realizing anticipated benefits from any of these efforts if completed, (iii) obtaining third-party consents and approvals, and (iv) third parties honoring their contracts and commitments; macroeconomic trends or other factors that could change our capital expenditure plans and their potential impact on rate base or other growth; litigation, arbitrations and other proceedings, and changes to laws and regulations, including those related to tax and trade policy; 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; the availability, uses, sufficiency, and cost of capital resources and 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, (ii) instability in the capital markets, or (iii) rising interest rates and inflation; the impact on affordability of our customer rates and our cost of capital and on our ability to pass through higher costs to customers due to (i) volatility in inflation, interest rates and commodity prices and (ii) the cost of meeting the demand for lower carbon and reliable energy in California; 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 uncertainty related to relevant emerging and early-stage technologies; weather, natural disasters, pandemics, accidents, equipment failures, explosions, terrorism, information system outages or other events, such as work stoppages, 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 natural gas and natural gas storage capacity, including disruptions caused by failures in the pipeline system or limitations on the withdrawal of natural gas from storage facilities; 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 the company 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.
