Fighting Climate Change

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PG&E recognizes that the link between greenhouse gas emissions and the Earth’s warming climate is convincing, the potential consequences are serious and the need for action is urgent.

The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) named PG&E to the 2011 Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index for both the S&P 500 and the Global 500 for climate change-related disclosure—recognizing PG&E for the quality of our reporting on greenhouse gas emissions and the business risks and opportunities from climate change. The CDP is an independent organization that maintains the largest global database of corporate climate change information.

Understanding and Reporting Our Impact

As a charter member of the California Climate Action Registry, PG&E was the first investor-owned utility in California to complete a third-party-verified inventory of our carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in 2003. In 2009, PG&E began voluntary reporting to The Climate Registry, a non-profit organization that sets consistent and transparent reporting standards for North American businesses and governments. PG&E is a founding member of The Climate Registry.

PG&E provides its customers with electricity that has among the lowest rates of greenhouse gas emissions in the nation. In fact, PG&E's most recent independently verified CO₂ emissions rate of 575 pounds of CO₂ per MWh is about half the national average among utilities.

In 2009, California's Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32) greenhouse gas reporting regulations went into effect, requiring regulated entities such as PG&E to prepare and submit an annual greenhouse gas emissions inventory to the California Air Resources Board. In 2011, we will begin reporting the greenhouse gas emissions from some of our facilities and operations to the U.S. EPA under its new requirements.

In addition, PG&E has participated in the Carbon Disclosure Project since 2005. PG&E's annual submission provides additional detail on our actions related to climate change and our greenhouse gas emissions profile.

Reducing Our Emissions

PG&E is a member of the Sulfur Hexafluoride (SF6) Emission Reduction Partnership, which focuses on reducing emissions of SF6 (approximately 23,900 times as potent as CO₂ on a per ton basis) from transmission and distribution operations. We also support Natural Gas STAR, a program promoting the reduction of methane (at least 21 times as potent as CO₂ on a per ton basis) from natural gas pipeline operations. Since 1998, we have reduced our SF6 emissions rate by 85 percent and our total emissions by more than 70 percent, and have avoided the release of thousands of tons of methane.

Advancing Responsible Solutions

PG&E was the first investor-owned utility to support California's enactment of AB 32, which sets a goal of reducing the state's greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. PG&E continues to work with the state legislature, ARB, CPUC, CEC and other concerned stakeholders to ensure the responsible implementation of AB 32.

At the federal level, the U.S. EPA continues to move forward with its rulemaking process to establish a regulatory regime for greenhouse gas emissions from stationary sources. PG&E is actively participating in this process, including making recommendations to the EPA as a member of EPA's Clean Air Act Advisory Committee on the energy, economic and environmental impacts of potential control options for greenhouse gases.

Much of our climate change advocacy work is done through coalitions, including the U.S. Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), which consists of major businesses and leading environmental organizations. PG&E was also an original member of the Clean Energy Group, a coalition of environmentally progressive utilities advocating for a national, mandatory, market-based approach to curbing greenhouse gas emissions in the power sector.