ASPIRE 2045 FAQs | SoCalGas

Sustainability at SoCalGas means innovating our business to create lasting benefits for stakeholders by doing the right thing, championing people, and shaping the future. ASPIRE 2045 is our strategy to further integrate sustainability across our business. Our sustainability program is designed to make a positive impact on the communities we serve and achieve greater business strength.

SoCalGas incorporates sustainable business practices into many facets of our business operations. Our sustainability strategy prioritizes the following five areas:

Accelerating the transition to clean energy;
Protecting the climate and improving local air quality;
Advancing a diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture;
Increasing clean energy access and affordability; and
Achieving world-class safety.

SoCalGas conducted an assessment of relevant sustainability topics, garnered internal and external stakeholder input, and benchmarked with industry peers to identify the focus areas for our current sustainability strategy. The process began with our participation in our parent company, Sempra’s, materiality assessment—a method to identify and prioritize the issues that are most important to an organization and its stakeholders. The results from this process created the foundation for SoCalGas’ continued assessment. SoCalGas conducted external interviews with key experts—including representatives form academia and non-profit organizations—and held broad internal stakeholder workshops resulting in a set of focus areas that align with Sempra and SoCalGas’ business strategy.

A key component of our sustainability strategy is to be transparent and accountable with our sustainable business goals. We have established a governance framework that aligns all business units with our sustainability strategy, sets clear lines of responsibility, and transparently tracks progress on our goals. Many of the elements in our sustainability strategy are already reported through compliance reports, Sempra's annual Corporate Sustainability Report and other outlets. We will enhance this effort and include additional metrics through these existing outlets and our website.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) is a call for action adopted by all United Nations member states in 2015, highlighting 17 global goals designed to be a “blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.” Our sustainability goals support many UN SDGs.

SoCalGas plays a fundamental role in the reliable delivery of energy today and we believe the gas infrastructure will continue to play a critical role in the energy transition. Our “The Role of Clean Fuels and Gas Infrastructure in Achieving California’s Net-Zero Climate Goal” Paper, published in October, 2021 (“Clean Fuels Paper”) highlights that combining the strengths of renewable electricity from solar and wind (clean electrons) with clean, renewable hydrogen, renewable natural gas, syngas, and biofuels (low- and zero-carbon molecules), is the most affordable, resilient, and technologically proven path to carbon neutrality. And to meet customer needs, we believe an energy network that leverages gas infrastructure is an essential part of California meeting its climate goals. For more information on the Clean Fuels Whitepaper, please visit, socalgas.com/cleanfuels.

Our path to net zero will not be linear, nor will it be achieved by SoCalGas alone. This is why we have developed “The Role of Clean Fuels and Gas Infrastructure in Achieving California’s Net-Zero Climate Goal” Paper and formed partnerships with cutting edge industry leaders and academics in order generate transformative and pragmatic solutions to significantly reduce emissions from transportation, buildings, and hard-to-decarbonize industries. Our recently released “The Role of Clean Fuels and Gas Infrastructure in achieving California’s Net-Zero Climate Goal” Paper identifies potential pathways to economy-wide carbon neutrality from an integrated electric and gas energy system. The analysis models not only costs but other attributes that must be considered for managing risk such as the resiliency and reliability of an energy system that can be adaptive to the increasing climate events experienced in California (e.g., more intense and frequent wildfires). We will focus on accelerating the energy transition towards a decarbonized future by increasing the delivery of cleaner energy, adapting our gas system for hydrogen, and supporting customer decarbonization.

For SoCalGas, Scope 1 and 2 are direct emissions from sources owned or controlled by the Company, including emissions generated by gas usage at our facilities, use of transmission and distribution systems, and our vehicle fleet; and indirect emissions associated with the electricity purchased and consumed by the company. Scope 3 emissions are indirect GHG emissions from that is a result of our customers’ use of natural gas.

SoCalGas is the largest gas distribution utility in the nation to include scopes 1, 2, and 3 emissions in our net zero goal. Success will require strong partnerships and collaborations with business partners, customers, and regulatory and policy stakeholders, and continued dedication from our 7,800 SoCalGas employees.

For SoCalGas, sustainability is our path to a brighter future for our business and all those we serve—our employees, our customers and our communities. Sustainability broadly encompasses our pursuit of environmental health, social equity and wellbeing, and economic vitality affecting all our stakeholders. We believe a diverse workforce and inclusive culture can drive better outcomes and create more resilient communities. We believe access to reliable and affordable clean energy is vital for an equitable transition to sustainable energy. And we know the safety of our communities, employees, and contractors is foundational to the sustainability of our business.

Our Supplier Diversity Program began taking shape more than 45 years ago, guided by insightful leaders who recognized that buying products and services from diverse suppliers was good for us, our customers and our communities. In 2020,SoCalGas’ Supplier Diversity Program spent a record $884 million with more than 550 minority-; service-disabled veteran-; lesbian-, gay-, bisexual-, transgender-, and queer- (LGBTQ); and women-owned businesses, with over 91% of suppliers located within California. In addition, we also offer a variety of Technical Assistance Programs designed to help diverse businesses meet contract requirements to work with SoCalGas. We are proud to share that SoCalGas has exceeded the California Public Utilities Commission’s goal for supplier diversity programs for 28 consecutive years.

More information about SoCalGas’ efforts can be found in the sustainability plan, ASPIRE 2045, on the SoCalGas website, or by emailing SustainabilityInBox@socalgas.com.

Frequently asked questions

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