annual review indst 2024 public - Flipbook - Side 29
Annual Review 2024
CASE STUDY
Dominion Energy
Changes at the company
Dominion Energy is a US utility company that supplies
electricity and natural gas to homes, businesses, and
wholesale customers. It operates through its power
delivery, power generation, and gas infrastructure
business segments in 15 states serving nearly seven
million customers.
Our engagement
We have engaged with the company on its climate
strategy since 2011, including as part of Climate Action
100+ (CA100+). In 2020, Dominion committed to
achieving net zero emissions by 2050, with ambitious
plans to phase down its coal-fired plants.
To help protect long-term shareholder value through the
transition, we asked the company to develop and articulate
a decarbonisation strategy incorporating just transition
principles. The aim was to help mitigate any anticipated
adverse impacts on workers and the wider community.
In 2020, we engaged the company privately and in
meetings organised by CA100+ to discuss the coal plant
phase out. It highlighted the challenges of meeting its
timeline, but added that it was working with the
regulator to accelerate the policy context for a faster
coal phase out, especially in South Carolina.
It described its plan for a just transition to a clean economy,
including the involvement of the board in workforce
planning. It also highlighted the importance of providing
well-paid jobs and clean and affordable energy within its
energy and environmental justice policy. We encouraged
the company to develop this narrative, covering areas such
as the number of employees impacted, the new skills
required and timelines for transitioning.
We followed up in 2021 in an engagement with the
company’s senior sustainability representatives to review
progress. We also continued to engage with the company as
part of CA100+, with further engagements in 2023 and 2024.
In 2023, the company updated us on its latest comprehensive
business review, including its updated environmental justice
policy. This presented a more comprehensive strategy
covering a range of just transition concerns. These included
details of how it was reskilling workers for roles in new growth
areas, such as renewable energy generation, and its work
with local businesses to re-employ workers in harder
impacted areas and take advantage of renewables growth
opportunities in Virginia. It covered how best to meet
customer needs, including ensuring reliable access to energy
during periods of storms, and access to affordable energy.
It also contained examples of its impact on workers and
engagement with communities, such as the Virginia Beach
offshore wind project. It confirmed that the board now
reviews the impact of coal unit closures on local communities
as part of a full board review of sustainability and climate risks.
The company also updated us on the management of its
closure of two coal units in March 2023. Dominion said it is
helping to prepare workers for alternative roles in solar energy
and improving access to internal retraining and tuition
programmes. This includes partnerships with community
colleges and access to an employee career centre.
In its 2023 sustainability report, published in September
2024, the company expanded the disclosures related to
its just transition strategy. The report included more
details on its employees, customers and communities,
providing anecdotes and data related to how these
groups felt about plant closures and how often
Dominion engaged with stakeholders.
The company also proposed language in a draft Virginia
legislative bill to prioritise local hires, military veterans, and
minorities where the impact of the transition is being felt.
Dominion was also planning 20 hiring events related to its
offshore wind project alone and had trained over 1,000
employees to drive its environmental justice processes
earlier in the design or procurement of a project.
We will continue to monitor the delivery of Dominion’s
energy transition strategy, including how the company
tracks key performance indicators such as net jobs created/
lost and the quality of its community engagement.
Michael Yamoah
Themes: Climate Change,
Wider Societal Impacts
29
