Bringing Our ESG Story to Life

The role of a company in today’s society is changing, and that’s a good thing.

The Business Roundtable recognized this shift with its updated statement on the Purpose of a Corporation last August – rightly noting that a successful, sustainable, profitable corporation must engage employees, serve customers with excellence and support our communities. Duke Energy was proud to sign on.

And we’ve seen an increased focus from investors and stakeholders, who often use environmental, social responsibility and corporate governance (ESG) metrics to evaluate and hold companies accountable.

We welcome the increased attention to these issues at Duke Energy. 

Recently, we hosted our inaugural ESG Investor Day to show how we’re incorporating ESG into our strategy and operations. We believe it’s fundamental to achieving our goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 as we retire coal, invest in renewables and storage, and advocate for new, zero-emitting technologies.

Through this clean energy transition, we’ll double our renewables portfolio to 16 gigawatts by 2025, triple our regulated renewables capacity by 2030 and reach 40 gigawatts by 2050. Renewables will become our largest source of energy, complemented by over 11,000 megawatts of energy storage by 2050. And ESG shapes our new target to achieve net-zero methane emission by 2030.

But beyond the environment, ESG helps inform the steps we’re taking to make meaningful progress on social responsibility and governance.

It starts with our purpose at Duke Energy: to power the lives of our customers and the vitality of our communities. That statement is underpinned by a diverse, mission-driven workforce, whom we’re investing in with new opportunities to grow, develop and advance. You also see our purpose in action through stakeholder engagement, as we work to find better outcomes and new partnerships, and our efforts around diversity, equity and inclusion – of our culture, our employees and our board. I'm not sure there's been a stronger call to action than the events of 2020 on this issue.

ESG gives us a clear way to show how we look to bring our purpose to life and deliver on our commitments. And we’ll be a better company as a result.

This video shows our strategy in action.