SAN DIEGO, July 31, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Sempra Energy
(NYSE: SRE) today released its latest annual corporate
responsibility report, a comprehensive overview of the company's
sustainable business model and results.
The 2014 report, entitled "Growing Responsibly," focuses on the
company's progress in reducing air emissions, conserving water,
achieving safety goals, meeting energy-efficiency standards,
developing renewable energy projects and encouraging diversity
among employees and suppliers.
"To be successful, we must provide safe and reliable service to
our millions of customers and continue to grow our business in a
sustainable way," said Debra L.
Reed, Sempra Energy's chairman and chief executive officer.
"Our corporate responsibility report this year includes substantive
discussion on how we are prepared to address key industry topics.
By planning for the future in a deliberate and responsible way, we
enable strong performance in many key areas of our business."
Highlights from the 2014 report include:
- Emissions: The Sempra Energy family of companies' 2014
carbon-dioxide emissions rate was more than 40-percent below the
U.S. average.
- Renewable energy: Through its subsidiary Sempra U.S. Gas
& Power, Sempra Energy has developed nearly 1,100 megawatts
(MW) of renewable energy and expects to be invested in 2,000 MW by
2018.
- Safety: The Sempra Energy companies achieved a
consolidated recordable incident rate 15 percent better than the
company's target.
- Diversity and inclusion: More than half of Sempra
Energy's U.S. workforce is comprised of ethnic minorities. In 2014,
SoCalGas and SDG&E achieved 48.4 percent and 44.4 percent,
respectively, in spending with diverse business enterprises,
exceeding targets established by the California Public Utilities
Commission.
- Charitable contributions: In 2014, Sempra Energy and its
core businesses made charitable contributions of $18.6 million. Employees contributed another
$3.2 million and volunteered 20,500
hours in their communities.
Sempra Energy's corporate responsibility report is available
online at sempra.com/responsibility.
Sempra Energy's four principal subsidiaries are Southern
California Gas Co., San Diego Gas & Electric, Sempra U.S. Gas
& Power and Sempra International.
Sempra Energy, based in San
Diego, is a Fortune 500 energy services holding company with
2014 revenues of $11 billion. The
Sempra Energy companies' 17,000 employees serve more than 32
million consumers worldwide.
This press release contains statements that are not
historical fact and constitute forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. These statements can be identified by words like "believes,"
"expects," "anticipates," "plans," "estimates," "projects,"
"forecasts," "contemplates," "intends," "depends," "should,"
"could," "would," "will," "confident," "may," "potential,"
"possible," "proposed," "target," "pursue," "goals," "outlook,"
"maintain" or similar expressions, or discussions of guidance,
strategies, plans, goals, opportunities, projections, initiatives,
objectives or intentions. Forward-looking statements are not
guarantees of performance. They involve risks, uncertainties and
assumptions. Future results may differ materially from those
expressed in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking
statements are necessarily based upon various assumptions involving
judgments with respect to the future and other risks, including,
among others: local, regional, national and international
economic, competitive, political, legislative and regulatory
conditions and developments; actions and the timing of actions,
including issuances of permits to construct and licenses for
operation, by the California Public Utilities Commission,
California State Legislature, U.S. Department of Energy, Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Atomic
Safety and Licensing Board, California Energy Commission, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, California Air Resources Board,
and other regulatory, governmental and environmental bodies in
the United States and other
countries in which we operate; the timing and success of business
development efforts and construction, maintenance and capital
projects, including risks in obtaining, maintaining or extending
permits, licenses, certificates and other authorizations on a
timely basis and risks in obtaining adequate and competitive
financing for such projects; energy markets, including the timing
and extent of changes and volatility in commodity prices, and the
impact of any protracted reduction in oil prices from historical
averages; the impact on the value of our natural gas storage assets
from low natural gas prices, low volatility of natural gas prices
and the inability to procure favorable long-term contracts for
natural gas storage services; delays in the timing of costs
incurred and the timing of the regulatory agency authorization to
recover such costs in rates from customers; deviations from
regulatory precedent or practice that result in a reallocation of
benefits or burdens among shareholders and ratepayers; capital
markets conditions, including the availability of credit and the
liquidity of our investments; inflation, interest and currency
exchange rates; the impact of benchmark interest rates, generally
Moody's A-rated utility bond yields, on our California Utilities'
cost of capital; the availability of electric power, natural gas
and liquefied natural gas, and natural gas pipeline and storage
capacity, including disruptions caused by failures in the North
American transmission grid, pipeline explosions and equipment
failures and the decommissioning of San Onofre Nuclear Generating
Station (SONGS); cybersecurity threats to the energy grid, natural
gas storage and pipeline infrastructure, the information and
systems used to operate our businesses and the confidentiality of
our proprietary information and the personal information of our
customers, terrorist attacks that threaten system operations and
critical infrastructure, and wars; the ability to win competitively
bid infrastructure projects against a number of strong competitors
willing to aggressively bid for these projects; weather conditions,
conservation efforts, natural disasters, catastrophic accidents,
and other events that may disrupt our operations, damage our
facilities and systems, and subject us to third-party liability for
property damage or personal injuries; risks that our partners or
counterparties will be unable or unwilling to fulfill their
contractual commitments; risks posed by decisions and actions of
third parties who control the operations of investments in which we
do not have a controlling interest; risks inherent with nuclear
power facilities and radioactive materials storage, including the
catastrophic release of such materials, the disallowance of the
recovery of the investment in, or operating costs of, the nuclear
facility due to an extended outage and facility closure, and
increased regulatory oversight, including motions to modify
settlements; business, regulatory, environmental and legal
decisions and requirements; expropriation of assets by foreign
governments and title and other property disputes; the impact on
reliability of San Diego Gas & Electric Company's (SDG&E)
electric transmission and distribution system due to increased
amount and variability of power supply from renewable energy
sources; the impact on competitive customer rates of the growth in
distributed and local power generation and the corresponding
decrease in demand for power delivered through SDG&E's electric
transmission and distribution system; the inability or
determination not to enter into long-term supply and sales
agreements or long-term firm capacity agreements due to
insufficient market interest, unattractive pricing or other
factors; the resolution of litigation; and other uncertainties, all
of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond our
control. These risks and uncertainties are further discussed
in the reports that Sempra Energy has filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission. These reports are available through the EDGAR
system free-of-charge on the SEC's website,
www.sec.gov, and on the company's website at
www.sempra.com.
Investors should not rely unduly on any forward-looking
statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as
of the date hereof, and the company undertakes no obligation to
update or revise these forecasts or projections or other
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise.
Sempra International, LLC, Sempra U.S. Gas & Power, LLC,
and Sempra Partners, LP, are not the same companies as the
California utilities, San Diego
Gas & Electric (SDG&E) or Southern California Gas Company
(SoCalGas), and Sempra International, LLC, Sempra U.S. Gas &
Power, LLC, and Sempra Partners, LP, are not regulated by the
California Public Utilities Commission. Sempra International's
underlying entities include Sempra Mexico and Sempra South American
Utilities. Sempra U.S. Gas & Power's underlying entities
include Sempra Renewables and Sempra Natural Gas.
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SOURCE Sempra Energy