AVANGRID Inc., a sustainable energy company and member of the group of companies controlled by Iberdrola S.A., is furthering its environment, social and governance (ESG) commitments by expanding its carbon neutrality targets. The company is now targeting to reach carbon neutrality in scopes 1 and 2 by 2030 and is developing a strategy to address scope 3 emissions.
“As one of America’s most sustainable energy companies, our commitment to our ESG+F principles serves as the backbone of our business and puts us in the right place to address the need for more clean energy,” says Pedro Azagra, CEO of AVANGRID. “We also benefit from the expertise of the Iberdrola Group, who is a global leader in ESG and whose targets have been verified by SBTi, and we are following in their footsteps.”
“Our sustainability goals have continued to evolve since 2017, when we became the first U.S. utility to commit to carbon-neutral goals and set our target to reach generation carbon neutrality by 2035,” adds Azagra. “We’ve strengthened our emissions goals and social commitments, laid the groundwork to transition our fleet to cleaner energy vehicles, committed to increasing our purchases with diverse suppliers and more. We not only continue to evolve and accelerate our commitments, but also have innovative initiatives underway to meet our goals.”
AVANGRID’s Net Zero Strategy reflects its strong commitment to carbon neutrality and support for the energy transition. In line with its recent announcement, the company’s immediate focus is on reducing emissions from scopes 1 and 2. Scope 1 emissions include all direct greenhouse emissions from sources that are owned or controlled by AVANGRID, including power generation facilities, offices and other facilities, and fleet vehicles. Scope 2 emissions include indirect greenhouse emissions associated with the generation of purchased energy consumed by the AVANGRID.
To reach carbon neutrality in scopes 1 and 2 by 2030, AVANGRID plans to increase renewable installed capacity by 190% by 2030 versus 2015, supported by investing $1.8 billion in its renewables business through 2025. In addition, AVANGRID is exploring new technology solutions such as hydrogen and storage (scope 1).
It will green its buildings by committing to 100% renewable energy in its corporate buildings by 2030 (scope 2). In addition, the company will convert 100% percent of its light duty vehicles to cleaner energy by 2030 (scope 1).
“AVANGRID has and continues to demonstrate leadership in all aspects of ESG,” comments Laney Brown, vice president of sustainability at AVANGRID. “We analyzed a select number of our ESG goals against our peer’s, and the breadth and depth of our ESG commitments in comparison demonstrates our ESG leadership and reflects our unique ESG position. We are demonstrating that clean energy is not just a beneficial outcome for the environment and society, but an opportunity to help people and communities participate in the clean energy transition through new jobs, and for leading companies like ours to make critical and strategic investments.”
