Press Releases

11/16/2022

AVANGRID Sets Industry-Leading 2030 Carbon Neutrality Targets for Scopes 1 and 2

AVANGRID Sets Industry-Leading 2030 Carbon Neutrality Targets for Scopes 1 and 2

AVANGRID, Inc. (NYSE: AGR), a leading sustainable energy company and member of the group of companies controlled by Iberdrola, S.A., is furthering its industry-leading Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) commitments by expanding its carbon neutrality targets. The company is now targeting to reach carbon neutrality in scopes 1 and 2 by 2030 and is developing a strategy to address scope 3 emissions. AVANGRID is one of only three U.S. energy company peers to set 2030 carbon neutrality goals and is one of the few major U.S. utilities to align with the country’s target to decarbonize the U.S. power sector by 2035.

AVANGRID’s announcement comes on the heels of Iberdrola reaffirming last week its target to become carbon neutral by 2030 in scopes 1 and 2 and reaching Net Zero in all 3 scopes by 2040. Iberdrola also announced that it has approved near and long-term science-based emissions reduction targets with the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and SBTi has verified Iberdrola’s net-zero science-based target by 2039. As a member of the Iberdrola Group, AVANGRID’s scopes 1 and 2 carbon neutrality targets are a critical part of Iberdrola’s Climate Action Plan.

“As one of America’s most sustainable energy companies, our commitment to our ESG+F principles serves as the backbone of our business and puts us in the right place to address the need for more clean energy,” said Pedro Azagra, CEO of AVANGRID. “We also benefit from the expertise of the Iberdrola Group, who is a global leader in ESG and whose targets have been verified by SBTi, and we are following in their footsteps. Our sustainability goals have continued to evolve since 2017, when we became the first U.S. utility to commit to carbon-neutral goals and set our target to reach generation carbon neutrality by 2035. We’ve strengthened our emissions goals and social commitments, laid the groundwork to transition our fleet to cleaner energy vehicles, committed to increasing our purchases with diverse suppliers and more. We not only continue to evolve and accelerate our commitments, but also have innovative initiatives underway to meet our goals.”

ESG factors have been an integral part of the Iberdrola strategy for the last two decades, to the extent that it has now become an established leader in ESG+F, supporting environmental, social and governance aspects and financial strength. Likewise, AVANGRID has a forward-looking ESG+F strategy that informs the company’s business decisions, helps further its sustainability commitments, and creates long-term, sustainable value for its shareholders.

AVANGRID’s Net Zero Strategy reflects its strong commitment to carbon neutrality and support for the energy transition. In line with its recent announcement, the company’s immediate focus is on reducing emissions from scopes 1 and 2. Scope 1 emissions include all direct greenhouse emissions from sources that are owned or controlled by AVANGRID, including power generation facilities, offices and other facilities, and fleet vehicles. Scope 2 emissions include indirect greenhouse emissions associated with the generation of purchased energy consumed by the AVANGRID.

To reach carbon neutrality in scopes 1 and 2 by 2030, AVANGRID plans to:

• Increase renewable installed capacity by 190% by 2030 versus 2015, supported by investing $1.8 billion in its renewables business through 2025. In addition, AVANGRID is exploring new technology solutions such as hydrogen and storage (scope 1).
• Decrease greenhouse gas emissions intensity from generation sources by 35% by 2025 and 70% by 2030 versus 2015 (scope 1).
• Green its buildings by committing to 100% renewable energy in its corporate buildings by 2030 (scope 2).
• Convert 100% percent of its light duty vehicles to cleaner energy by 2030 (scope 1).
• Continue to develop a plan for the company’s one thermal unit, its Klamath gas generation facility. As part of this process, AVANGRID is currently exploring technologies and other options to reduce gas generation emissions while using this highly efficient unit for managing the company’s growing renewable fleet (scope 1).
• Continue investing in gas leak prevention with pipeline replacements to reach 100% leak prone pipe replacement (scope 1).

In addition to announcing its industry-leading carbon neutrality targets, AVANGRID also expanded its commitment to gender diversity. In 2021, the company signed on to the Paradigm for Parity, which has a goal of achieving 50% women in senior leadership positions by 2030. AVANGRID has set an additional goal of having 35% women in executive positions by 2025.

“AVANGRID has and continues to demonstrate leadership in all aspects of ESG,” said Laney Brown, Vice President of Sustainability at AVANGRID. “We analyzed a select number of our ESG goals against our peer’s, and the breadth and depth of our ESG commitments in comparison demonstrates our ESG leadership and reflects our unique ESG position. We are demonstrating that clean energy is not just a beneficial outcome for the environment and society, but an opportunity to help people and communities participate in the clean energy transition through new jobs, and for leading companies like ours to make critical and strategic investments.”

AVANGRID has earned numerous recognitions for its ESG efforts, including being named among the world’s most sustainable companies by S&P Global for two consecutive years, being recognized by JUST Capital in 2021 and 2022 as one of the JUST 100 companies, being named among the World’s Most Ethical Companies for four consecutive years and being included in the FTSE4Good Index Series for five consecutive years.

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