WESTBOROUGH, Mass. – In its first U.S. corporate responsibility report, published today, National Grid sets goals that include reducing greenhouse gas emissions 60 percent by 2050. For internal use, the utility company aims to shift to 100-percent renewable energy by 2010.
The report – based on the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, and the GRI’s Electric Utility Supplement – draws heavily on “Reducing U.S. Greenhouse Gases: How Much at What Cost?,” a McKinsey & Co. analysis co-sponsored by National Grid that was published Nov. 29. (That analysis is available online at www.mckinsey.com.)
But the new document “is more than just about climate change,” Tom King, National Grid’s executive director of electricity distribution and generation, said in a statement this morning. “We want to be completely open about how we aim to operate responsibly in everything we do, and this report gives our public in the U.S. a great view of that.”
Other highlights of today’s report include:
• Over their first 20 years, National Grid’s energy efficiency programs have saved more than 26 billion kilowatt hours and $2.5 billion.
• During 2007, safety initiatives resulted in the completion of 40,000 safety observations and a 50-percent increase in reporting of “near miss” accidents.
• A fundraising drive this year by employees and retirees raised more than $1 million for the United Way. Those donations were matched by the company, resulting in a total gift of $2.1 million.
• Over the next five years, the company plans to invest more than $3 billion in electrical networks in upstate New York and increase the number of certain field workers in the region by 10 percent.
“We can and are looking to have a positive impact on the communities we serve and act responsibly as a company,” King said. “This document – which has the three themes of safety, reliability and climate change at its core – gives us a fantastic reference point to move forward in those areas.”
National Grid, a division of the U.K.-based National Grid plc (NYSE: NGG; LSE: NG), distributes electricity and natural gas to nearly 4 million customers in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Rhode Island. Additional information, including the new corporate sustainability report, is available at www.nationalgridus.com.
