Month: May 2023

By Terren Ho and Chloe Shen

Alibaba Group is launching innovative green technologies across its campuses.

The Hangzhou-based company has been ramping up efforts since 2020, ensuring all new buildings meet the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold Standard, the second-highest certification level awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council.

“To influence more people, we can always start with ourselves. We can take actions at our campus and among our colleagues to drive for greater change,” Felix Liu, President of General Services Administration at Alibaba, told Alizila in an interview.

Alibaba has committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2030, and the company has vowed to slash 1.5 gigatons of carbon emissions throughout its ecosystem by 2035.

Green practices are happening inside and outside. An AI-based program reduces air conditioning and heating needs in offices, while street lights on Alibaba’s main campus now operate using solar power, according to Liu.

Below is a transcript of the interview edited for clarity and brevity

Transcript

Felix Liu: ESG creates values beyond businesses. It builds a roadmap for addressing a wide range of global problems and sets the basis for Alibaba to last for 102 years.

To influence more people, we can always start with ourselves. We can take action at our campus and among our colleagues, to drive for greater change.

We began implementing various green and low-carbon technologies on our campuses in 2020 while providing employees with a comfortable, pleasant, and dynamic working environment.

Hangzhou Xixi Campus is the global headquarters of Alibaba Group. It is expanding with our company. Many green practices start here before they were introduced to our campuses across China.

We are also actively looking for clean energy alternatives in electricity consumption. 100% of our campus street lights are solar-powered.

On ecological diversity, we make every effort to protect the wetland environment. Xixi Campus Park A retains the original ecological environment, including the willows, bamboo, and persimmons.

We’ve built trails along the wetland and constructed semi-open office spaces and meeting areas along the wetland to connect our employees and nature.

All future new constructions by Alibaba will meet the LEED Gold standard and the China green building standard.

Alibaba launched a number of initiatives and mechanisms to encourage every Alibaba employee to participate in a low-carbon lifestyle.

For example, we launched “Youxin,” a platform to guide and motivate employees to participate in low-carbon actions.

Every Alibaba employee can earn points by taking low-carbon emission actions on the platform. The points can be redeemed for green-themed souvenirs or other employee benefits.

As new technologies emerge, Alibaba has been keeping tabs on emerging technologies. While we reduce carbon emissions in our own office parks and constructions, we are also considering additional investment in green energy.

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Please refer to https://www.alizila.com/esg/ for additional information about Alibaba’s sustainability efforts.

Affordability and reliability remain central focus

CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 16, 2023/3BL Media/ – Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) released its 17th annual report outlining its approach to sustainability topics. The flagship Impact Report highlights the company’s goals, performance and progress on strategic business priorities and allows stakeholders to chart the company’s progress.

Affordability and reliability are top of mind for both the company and customers. Last year, Duke Energy made investments to lower fuel costs and reduce price volatility to benefit customers. In addition, a dedicated team worked with more than 1,400 community assistance agencies to disperse important energy assistance funds. Last year, the company assisted nearly 189,000 customers with more than $192 million in energy assistance and, since 2021, has helped connect customers to nearly $300 million in energy assistance.

And the company continues to work alongside stakeholders to introduce new programs and policies to generate savings and lower the cost of the energy transition.

“Our business strategy is creating value for our employees, customers and communities while at the same time mitigating the potential risks associated with our business,” said Katherine Neebe, Duke Energy’s chief sustainability and philanthropy officer. “We’re pursuing federal funding and leveraging tax credits to lower customer costs for clean energy technologies and other aspects of the energy transition. Our balanced pace of change will enable a future that offers reliable, accessible and affordable energy for all customers and areas we serve.”

With the company’s continued focus on customers, cost management and job creation, EY evaluated the economic benefits of Duke Energy’s planned investment of $145 billion over the next 10 years for critical energy infrastructure. The study found the company’s plan will support more than 20,000 additional direct, indirect and induced jobs annually during that period and produce $250 billion in economic output throughout the U.S. economy due to jobs, income paid to workers and payments made to suppliers. In addition, it will generate more than $5 billion in additional property tax revenue over the next 10 years to support schools, first responders, roads and other infrastructure and essential services in local communities.

Other report highlights and insights:

Duke Energy continues to decarbonize to meet its climate goals. The company’s carbon emissions from electric generation are down 44% since 2005, and it is well-positioned to exceed its Scope 1 2030 goal of a 50% reduction. In 2022, the company established a second interim target of an 80% reduction in 2040.The company expanded its net-zero by 2050 goal to include Scope 2 and certain Scope 3 emissions, becoming one of the first in the industry to tie more than 95% of emissions to a net-zero commitment. 
 The company continues to decarbonize its natural gas business unit with a focus on methane detection and reduction of emissions, and minimizing upstream emissions related to the gas it purchases and downstream carbon emissions related to customers’ consumption of the gas sold. 
 The company continues to prioritize reliable service for its customers and communities by modernizing its grid. In 2022, smart, self-healing technology helped avoid more than 1.4 million customer outages and saved around 7.2 million hours of total outage time. 
 Duke Energy is leveraging Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) benefits and incorporating them into integrated resource plans and rate adjustments across jurisdictions. The IRA is an important tool for lowering costs for customers. 
 The company’s economic development team helped attract 29,000 new jobs and $23 billion in capital investment to its service territories. 
 Environmental justice is critical to engaging communities in the clean energy transition, and the company is evolving this work by integrating its principles into a due diligence process for siting projects. More than 200 employees have participated in training to perform assessments to help identify potential environmental justice communities early in the project planning cycle and provide opportunities for enhanced engagement. 
 As the energy sector transitions, the company is working to ensure its workforce and others in the industry are set up for long-term success. As part of this commitment, the company engaged with stakeholders to create a series of guiding principles to inform its approach to a just transition. In 2022, the company worked with a third party to perform an assessment of upcoming and near-term coal retirements, noting community demographics, plant specifics and adjacent employment opportunities. This information will help inform the company’s strategy as it retires coal, with a complete exit, pending regulatory approval, by 2035. 
 Human capital management highlights include working to increase diversity across our workforce and establishing new aspirational goals of 23% people of color and 28% women. In addition, 2022 EEO1 data is included in workforce performance metrics. 
 In order to provide stakeholders a comprehensive view of the company’s disclosures, this year, included in the appendix of the Impact Report is the Trade Association Climate Review, Global Reporting Index and Sustainable Accounting Standards Board information.

Duke Energy

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of America’s largest energy holding companies. Its electric utilities serve 8.2 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, and collectively own 50,000 megawatts of energy capacity. Its natural gas unit serves 1.6 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky. The company employs 27,600 people.

Duke Energy is executing an aggressive clean energy transition to achieve its goals of net-zero methane emissions from its natural gas business by 2030 and net-zero carbon emissions from electricity generation by 2050. The company has interim carbon emission targets of at least 50% reduction from electric generation by 2030, 50% for Scope 2 and certain Scope 3 upstream and downstream emissions by 2035, and 80% from electric generation by 2040. In addition, the company is investing in major electric grid enhancements and energy storage, and exploring zero-emission power generation technologies such as hydrogen and advanced nuclear.

Duke Energy was named to Fortune’s 2023 “World’s Most Admired Companies” list and Forbes’ “World’s Best Employers” list. More information is available at duke-energy.com. The Duke Energy News Center contains news releases, fact sheets, photos and videos. Duke Energy’s illumination features stories about people, innovations, community topics and environmental issues. Follow Duke Energy on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

Contact: Shawna Berger 
24-Hour: 800.559.3853 
Twitter: @DE_ShawnaB

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Originally published in Pathway to Premier: 2022 Integrated Report

Entergy’s 2022 Integrated Report focuses on a number of key sustainability and ESG initiatives, including our sustainability strategy. Read on for an overview of Entergy’s approach to sustainability and view our full report at integratedreport.entergy.com.

Powering life for our customers, communities and owners starts with our employees, who work every day to build the premier utility. We’re working to deliver the training, tools and direction they need to envision a better future and to make it a reality. 

In 2022, our human resources team focused on the five drivers of our talent and culture strategy: 
• Deliver a value proposition that recruits, retains and drives performance. 
• Cultivate diverse talent to raise organizational performance. 
• Build premier utility capability. 
• Develop leaders to develop their organizations. 
• Strengthen the leader-employee relationship. 

We track our progress in these areas by specific measures of our diversity, capability, culture and commerce. 

Diversity 
At Entergy, we work to foster a workforce with diversity of ideas, backgrounds, perspectives and skills in an inclusive culture. 

We regularly monitor progress toward our goal of attracting, developing and retaining a more diverse workforce. Over the last several years, we have made consistent gains in female and diverse race/ethnic representation in the workforce and in management. 

You can learn more here about how we pursue that goal through workforce development partnerships, internships and educational support programs, and a sustained organizational health process within the company. 

Workforce development 
Our growth strategy depends on developing leaders who are able to manage strong, inclusive teams and provide meaningful work. We’re helping develop those abilities through programs like All In, a leadership program that launched in 2022 with 101 participants from across the company. The program will expand to add 300 Talent and culture outcomes Diversity Diversity of ideas, backgrounds, perspectives and skills in an inclusive culture Capability Knowledge skills and abilities that provide sustained stakeholder value and growth Culture Integration of an operating model of behavior expectations for how we deliver stakeholder outcomes Commerce Symbiotic value for our communities from our employment and supplier opportunities employees in 2023. It teaches critical inclusion concepts and offers techniques employees can use to pave the way for improvement in the rest of our organization. 

Capability 
To help build and lead a premier team, we provide employees with both foundational training and career development, along with innovative new ways to grow their careers. In 2022, Entergy introduced a series of differentiated, only-at-Entergy leadership programs aimed at accelerating capabilities among our top talent. 

We started with ensuring the top 300 leaders had a common understanding of our premier utility strategy and increased business acumen. All directors and above attended the Entergy Strategy Workshop, a three-day program that combined a business simulation competition with deep dives into our strategic focus areas. 

Next, we executed two new accelerated development programs for high-potential talent: Power Up for directors and vice presidents, and RISE: our emerging leader program for top individual contributors. Eighteen leaders completed our inaugural Power Up leadership program, a 12-month journey that combined field visits, executive interactions, skills assessments and targeted training to create meaningful relationships, measurable development and memorable experiences. Nearly 80 emerging leaders completed RISE in 2022. This three-month journey combines self assessments with training and networking to help these individuals land their first manager positions at Entergy. 

Our human resources team responds to an array of talent-related market forces. Today’s workers seek a compelling and inclusive experience. The company operates in a labor market with high costs, low participation rates and competition for employees with advanced skills. Increasing retirements and organizational changes in 2022 put a premium on knowledge retention and collaboration. Automation and remote work trends continue to challenge our ability to create a lasting, high-performing workplace culture.

Read the full report here.