Page Hero
June 30, 2022

Alignment with UN Sustainable Development Goals

Submitted by sempra_ian on

Sustainability and safety are interconnected, and at Sempra we understand that our business resides at the intersection of these two important elements of a modern energy ecosystem. Safe and reliable energy infrastructure empowers communities around the world. June is National Safety Month and a chance to recognize and continually innovate our safety approach, which underpins how we deliver energy to 40 million consumers. To help advance our mission to be North America’s premier energy infrastructure company and coordinate with reputable global standards, Sempra strives to align our company’s safety approach with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations (UN).

Read on to find out how three of the SDGs closely align with our company’s safety focus:

UN SDG 3 - good health and wellbeing

The third United Nations SDG is focused on ensuring healthy lives and promoting wellbeing for all. Sempra helps advance this goal by building new transmission and distribution infrastructure that enables more renewable energy with support from cleaner fuels and is designed to be increasingly resistant to the effects of a changing climate, such as wildfires, sea level rise and increasing temperatures.

Infrastructure resiliency can help communities stay safe and healthy by keeping essential services, including hospitals and grocery stores, powered. For example, San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E) is deploying micro-grid technology to help maintain power for critical facilities and communities that are often subject to public safety power shut offs during extreme weather events.

UN SDG 8 - decent work and economic growth

The eighth SDG is focused on promoting inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all. Our value to champion people and our unwavering commitment to safety for our workforce and for the communities we serve aligns with this goal. Sempra supports the protection of labor rights and the promotion of safe and secure working environments for all workers and strives to create a culture of safety where employees feel protected physically and psychologically. Field employees at Sempra operating companies are trained to ‘stop the job’ during situations that are potentially hazardous to workers, the public, our equipment, or the environment. This safety-focused culture helped decrease our company-wide employee recordable incident rate in 2021.

UN SDG 11 - sustainable cities and communities

The eleventh SDG aims to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable. This goal aligns with our investment in cleaner transportation and our focus on reducing emissions across our enterprise. Transportation is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution in California. Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) and SDG&E are transforming their fleets to 100% zero-emission vehicles. SoCalGas is advancing projects to explore zero-emission vehicles for the transit and heavy-duty truck industry, such as hydrogen fuel cell technology. Meanwhile, SDG&E has built 3,260 electric vehicle charging stations and has thousands more planned.

In every corner of our business, we’ve integrated safety for our employees and communities alike. Learn more about our safety culture and how our business approach supports the UN Sustainable Development Goals in our latest Corporate Sustainability Report.