I’m proud to introduce my first Sustainability Report with NRG — the eleventh in the company’s history. While I’m new to NRG, I come from the energy sector and most recently led energy transition for a global energy technology firm. At NRG, I have the great honor and privilege of building on the company’s long track record of leadership in sustainability. Back in 2014, NRG became the first major U.S. power company to set decarbonization targets and subsequently one of the first 10 companies globally to have our targets certified as 2-degree Celsius aligned. Fast forward to today, and we continue to lead — not only in climate — but across each of the five pillars of our sustainability framework. As society increasingly views sustainability as part of a company’s purpose, there is less need to convince stakeholders of its inherent importance. Instead, the focus has shifted to identifying and implementing solutions that are effective, efficient, and equitable. Doing so requires an appreciation of the complexity, fluidity, and multi-disciplinary nature of sustainability issues. At NRG, we have long embraced a cross-functional approach to sustainability, founded on collaboration and accountability across the company, as well as purposefully diverse external stakeholder engagement. In truly unifying the organization around our sustainability strategy, we are creating real, meaningful impact for all our stakeholders.
***
Throughout 2020, we used this difficult time as an opportunity to re-examine our role as an integrated power company. We remained committed to all our stakeholders, particularly our customers and employees, and never lost sight of our sustainability strategy. I’m proud to share with you our actions and accomplishments this year alongside a comprehensive view of the initiatives across our business and value chain.
This annual report represents a key part of our commitment to transparency and disclosure of our sustainability strategy, governance, plans, and progress. We adhere to the most widely accepted standards and metrics — including those of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) — and strive to provide our investors with information that’s concise, comparable, and decision-useful. 2020 is our fifth year reporting SASB metrics and this year we expanded our reporting library to include a TCFD mapping document pointing to our existing climate risk and opportunity reporting. We also expanded sustainability disclosures in our 2021 Proxy Statement, a step that demonstrates the integration of sustainability governance into our broader financial reporting.
In 2020, we submitted our accelerated greenhouse gas emissions reductions targets for verification from the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), as we did with the targets we previously established in 2014. I am thrilled to announce that our goal to reduce emissions 50% by 2025 from our current 2014 baseline and achieve net zero by 2050 has been certified by the SBTi as consistent with the level of reduction necessary to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. We are the first North American power company to achieve this distinction and one of only 12 power companies globally. In another milestone accomplishment, we became the first North American company — in any sector — to issue a sustainability-linked bond, unifying our financing and sustainability strategies.
Sustainability is integral to NRG’s purpose of bringing the power of energy to people and organizations. Throughout the year, we continued to expand our portfolio of sustainable products and services for both our home and business customers. We increased the range of retail renewable electricity plans including plans tailored for electric vehicle charging and rooftop solar, developed customized demand response programs and active energy management tools, provided energy efficiency consulting and products, and enabled our customers to offset their natural gas and gasoline consumption through certified carbon offsets.
The power sector is making progress toward a clean energy future. We recognize the critical role power plays not only in the lives of our customers, but also in decarbonizing the economy more broadly. However, no single entity can make this transition happen on its own. Moreover, the imperatives of the energy transition demand a flexible, all-of-the-above approach rather than a singular reliance on any one technology. As such, in 2020 we expanded our engagement with external stakeholders. In addition to an already well-established program of investor engagement, we actively participated in groups focused on various decarbonization pathways including electrification; low emission power generation; hydrogen; carbon capture, utilization, and storage; nature-based solutions; and reducing the carbon footprint of the natural gas supply chain. We also continued to support the climate-tech start-up ecosystem which we believe will help us identify technologies and partners that could both decarbonize our own business as well as help our customers decarbonize.
***
The journey to net-zero does not have an “easy” button. It is going to take collective action, innovation, and hard work. We are proud to be a pioneer in the energy industry as it transitions to a low carbon future and I look forward to working with you.
Jeanne-Mey Sun, Ph.DVice President, SustainabilityNRG Energy, Inc.
