ESG Goals: Foundational to Enbridge, Notable in Sustainability Rankings

Rhea-AI Impact

(No impact)

Rhea-AI Sentiment

(Very Positive)

Tags

01/11/2023 - 02:00 PM

NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / January 11, 2023 / We've said it before-ESG is part of our DNA.

Sustainability is central to how we do business at Enbridge, and sustainability ratings agencies continue to notice.

In November 2020, we announced 11 ESG goals, including net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050 and, as an interim target, reducing GHG emissions intensity from our operations 35% by 2030.

"We believe that ESG (environmental, social and governance standards) is foundational to our business, and we are proud of our performance," Vern Yu, Enbridge's Executive Vice President of Corporate Development and Chief Financial Officer, told an audience of analysts during a quarterly financials call in mid-2022.

"In 2020, we set new ambitious goals across all aspects of E, S, and G with clear pathways to achieving them. In 2021, we put in place the organizational building blocks to make it happen, establishing specific plans across businesses and aligning our compensation and financing costs to ESG performance," added Mr. Yu. "Our focus now turns to executing those strategies to achieve our goals."

In recent weeks, agencies again recognized Enbridge as a leader among energy peers, including:

An improvement in our Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA) score from S&P Global Ratings, which provides the basis for inclusion on the North American index of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI)
First among peers with a grade of A-minus for climate change from the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), an international environmental ratings non-profit.
Improvement on our ESG rating from Moody's, an independent international provider of ESG research.

"In many ways, when Enbridge announced the company's ESG goals in 2020, it galvanized our organization's progression as a company," says Pete Sheffield, Enbridge's Vice-President and Chief Sustainability Officer. "Our continued performance and recognized advancement shows the tangible progress we're making on the ESG goals we set."

This year, Enbridge earned an overall ESG evaluation of 69 from S&P Global Ratings, and placed on the DJSI's North American index-a second straight annual improvement score to 66 on our CSA, after a 63 in 2021 and a 55 in 2020, when we also placed on that same DJSI list. Our environmental score of 70 is still a leader among our industry peers, and our governance and economics score of 73 reflects a direct improvement within our supply chain operations.

Enbridge ranked first of 43 companies in Moody's Oil Equipment and Services North America sector. Our ESG score from Moody's remained at 54 in 2022, which corresponds to placement in the "robust" category. We also scored a "robust" 55 in Moody's Energy Transition category, which examines carbon footprint and risks-and-opportunities management strategy as they relate to transition to a low carbon economy.

And last week the CDP released its questionnaire results for 2022, with Enbridge maintaining its A-minus climate change grade for the third straight year.

"We are committed to ESG leadership, and our progress demonstrates our commitment," says Mr. Sheffield.