TransCanada Recognized as World Leader for Corporate Action on Climate Change

TransCanada’s long-term dedication to investing in emission-less and high-efficiency energy sources, research and development (R&D) and environmental initiatives hasn’t gone unnoticed. After the CDP‘s careful analysis of almost 2,000 corporate submissions from around the globe, TransCanada was awarded a top score for its actions to disclose carbon emissions and mitigate the business risks of climate change. “Receiving a score of 99A- is extremely rewarding for TransCanada,” says Andrea Jalbert, vice-president of Community and Sustainability at TransCanada. The score reflects 99/100 in terms of the extent and quality of TransCanada’s response and an ‘A-’ rating for the level of action on climate change mitigation, adaptation and transparency. This positive news comes on the heels of TransCanada’s score at the 88th percentile on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) for 2014. “We work every day to live our values and demonstrate our commitment to environmental stewardship, protection and performance. Working with CDP, DJSI and other measurement agencies helps us continue to raise the bar for ourselves in terms of protecting the environment at every level of our operations.” — Andrea Jalbert, vice-president, Community and Sustainability, TransCanada “Recognition by the CDP – the international NGO that drives sustainable economies – is significant because we supply 20 per cent of the natural gas North America consumes each day, export a quarter of Canada’s oil supply and are Canada’s largest private power provider. Being relied upon to responsibly deliver these products to consumers takes energy,” says Jalbert. “But for over 60 years we have been committed to the sustainability of both the land and our business, and we will continue to do so. We don’t see those things as being mutually exclusive.” “This score is unprecedented for a Canadian company. All submissions were independently assessed against CDP’s widely-respected scoring methodology and ranked accordingly.” — Cheryl Johnson, TransCanada’s climate change and air emissions advisor The implementation of TransCanada’s Environmental Strategy supports company-wide commitment to the environment. That’s one reason TransCanada’s GHG emissions-management successes can be attributed to different activities across the organization. These include implementing technologies to directly reduce or avoid emissions, installing high-efficiency equipment – like the technology to turn waste heat into power – and sponsoring R&D to reduce or avoid emissions and improve measurement. Many long-term R&D investments over the past 60 years have been geared toward encouraging increased efficiency and implementing environmentally beneficial technologies and techniques. In 2013 alone, TransCanada invested over $22 million in R&D projects with benefits that included ensuring safety, improving efficiency, reducing emissions and environmental stewardship, not just for TransCanada, but to improve industry performance as a whole. TransCanada is also actively investing in emission-less sources of power generation to meet North America’s growing demand for electricity. The company has invested over $5 billion in nuclear, hydro, wind and solar power. This month, TransCanada acquired three solar facilities, taking the company’s total investment in its Ontario solar program to almost $400-million. Today, approximately 65 per cent of TransCanada’s power generation comes from low and non-emitting sources. In September of this year, TransCanada Corporation was also proud to have been named to the prestigious 2014 Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) World Index for the 13th consecutive year and to have earned a place on the DJSI North America Index. The DJSI World Index represents the top 10 per cent of the largest 2,500 companies in the S&P Global Broad Market Index (BMI), while the DJSI North America Index represents the top 20 per cent of the largest 600 North American companies in the S&P Global BMI based on long-term environmental, economic and social criteria. “When it comes to our environmental, social and economic performance, we are committed to doing what’s right,” says Jalbert. “A huge cross-section of people across our organization take part in these reporting processes, and making sure we’re providing detailed and honest information helps us demonstrate that our commitment to corporate social responsibility goes beyond words; it can be measured and reported on these unbiased platforms that hold credibility at a worldwide level.”