Enbridge's Board Supports and Guides the Company Towards Sustainability and Inclusion
Originally published in Enbridge's 2020 Sustainability Report
Enbridge’s Board of Directors believes that strong governance is essential to advancing the long-term interests of all our stakeholders. We are committed to leading corporate governance practices and fostering public trust in the Company. While this has always been important, it is increasingly critical given the evolving business climate that we operate in.
Driving continuous improvement in environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance starts with the Board and requires effective and supportive oversight of management. We take our oversight role seriously and work to ensure that management’s sustainability strategy and implementation plans align with Enbridge’s vision and objectives. To this end, the full Board is heavily involved in the Company’s annual strategic planning process— and we believe that strong ESG performance is a critical enabler of our strategies and achieving our priorities. We take a very active role in safety, environmental protection and enterprise risk management, including the identification and mitigation of stakeholder-related risks.
In 2020, the Board and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Committee provided active oversight of Enbridge’s COVID-19 response, development of ESG goals, and policies and actions related to Indigenous peoples, communities, governments and regulators. We strongly endorse the Company’s new net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions commitment and accelerated diversity goals at senior management and workforce levels. We support the link between these objectives and incentive compensation. These are important steps as they position Enbridge to grow sustainably for decades to come while helping to build a more equitable and inclusive society. We will be closely monitoring our progress over the coming years.
The Board has also looked inward. We are committed to corporate governance leadership and recognize the importance of directors that bring a range of diverse perspectives, expertise, experience and business judgement. We have made good progress on this score but recognize that there is more we can do. That’s why we’ve committed to achieving representation on the Board of 40% women and 20% racial and ethnic groups by 2025.
We are very proud of what the Company accomplished in 2020 and look forward to working with management to continue our focus on sustainability in the years ahead.
Sincerely,
Gregory L. Ebel Chair, Board of Directors
Susan M. Cunningham Chair, CSR Committee of the Board
