Editor’s Note: Climate Week NYC 2020 kicks off today in New York alongside the annual General Assembly of the United Nations, bringing together business, government and civic leaders from around the world to showcase climate action. In recognition of Climate Week, we are taking time this week to reflect on the role our company plays – and the energy industry plays – in building a clean energy economy that is also just and equitable. In the coming days, we will publish a series of articles exploring climate action and connections across multiple areas and explain what progress we have made in each of those areas. Along the way, we will also provide resources for our customers and readers to enable them to make a difference in their daily lives.
Being part of an industry that powers daily life, SDG&E has long recognized that we have a unique role to play to help accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy. Both internally and externally, efforts are underway to facilitate a just and equitable transition, so vulnerable populations – those who are socio-economically disadvantaged – are not left behind.
We live in a state that’s at the forefront of the global sustainability movement. California has established a host of ambitious climate goals, including reaching carbon neutrality and achieving a 100% carbon-free electricity by 2045. Additionally, the state has a set a target to have five million zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) on the road by 2030. The proportionate share of that goal for our service territory – San Diego and South Orange counties – is half a million ZEVs.
Future Proofing Everything We Do
To help support these goals, sustainability is baked into everything we do. Central to our efforts is future proofing our energy infrastructure and operations to ensure customers continue to receive safe and reliable services, delivered with the smallest carbon footprint possible.
From our capital investments and employee volunteerism to our philanthropic initiatives and cafeteria vendor operations, protecting the environment is top of mind.
We have aggressive programs underway to expand the regional electric vehicle charging network to make it easy for everyone to transition to zero-emission transportation, as we simultaneously work to green our own fleet. The regional grid is also being continuously upgraded to integrate a growing amount of renewable energy and the latest clean energy innovations, such as energy storage.
By championing people, investing wisely in our infrastructure and working collaboratively with local organizations, energy partners and our customers, we can forge a path to carbon neutrality by 2045.
Learn More
Curious about climate action being taken across industries and across the world and what you can do to be part of it, visit the Climate Week NYC 2020 website, which lists over 350 events taking place across the world Sept. 21-27. The events are available to view online via Facebook Watch.