PGE’s Director of Sustainability shares three key takeaways from Climate Week 2023
Sept. 28, 2023
PGE's Senior Director of Sustainability Strategy & Resource Planning, Kristen Sheeran, brought clean energy expertise and a spotlight on climate justice to the stage during New York Climate Week 2023. We caught up with Kristen to share some of her reflections from the week.
The time spent at Climate Week NYC is always inspiring and affirming. I was excited to share PGE’s perspectives on decarbonization at the Climate Pledge Summit, where representatives gathered from 400+ companies who have pledged to achieve net zero emissions by 2040. Centering climate justice as we create a clean energy future for all was a major theme of the conference.
Here are some of my key takeaways:
Climate change is fundamentally changing how companies like PGE approach their work. Decarbonization is more than an engineering challenge. It requires meaningful, structured, and transparent engagement with customers and communities to ensure that those who are disproportionately impacted by climate change can benefit from clean energy investments.
Climate action and climate justice are core business imperatives for delivering lasting value for customers and shareholders, mitigating risks, and serving our communities and workforce.
The work is difficult, and we will get things wrong. We don’t need to have all of the answers in hand to get started.
- Kristen Sheeran, Senior Director of Sustainability Strategy & Resource Planning
About Portland General Electric Company
Portland General Electric (NYSE: POR) is a fully integrated energy company that generates, transmits and distributes electricity to over 900,000 customers in 51 cities across the state of Oregon. For more than 130 years, Portland General Electric (PGE) has powered the advancement of society, delivering safe, affordable, reliable and increasingly clean energy. To deliver on its strategy and meet state targets, PGE and its approximately 3,000 employees committed to partnering with stakeholders to achieve at least an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from power served to customers by 2030 and 100% reduction by 2040. PGE customers set the standard for prioritizing clean energy with the No. 1 voluntary renewable energy program in the country. Additionally, for the fifth year in a row, PGE was recognized by the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index which highlights companies committed to creating a more equal and inclusive workplace. As a reflection of the company's commitment to the community it serves, in 2022, PGE employees, retirees and the PGE Foundation donated nearly $5.5 million and volunteered more than 18,000 hours with more than 400 nonprofits across Oregon. For more information visit PortlandGeneral.com/news.
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