Collaborative Advancement of Sustainability in the Electric Power industry
Todd Maki, Electric Power Research Institute, 650-855-2162,
Jessica Fox, Electric Power Research Institute, 650-855-2138,
Overview
Since 2008, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has led the Energy Sustainability Interest Group, the largest group of electric utilities collaboratively advancing sustainability. The collaborative advancement of sustainability in the electric power industry is enabling electric power companies to learn from each other’s successes and hurdles to move the industry forward as a whole. Through this group, EPRI is leading an initiative to identify sustainability priorities and key performance indicators through the development of the first ever industry-wide sustainability materiality matrix. In parallel, EPRI is establishing a sustainability maturity model for the industry, which will identify and define the elements of sustainability in an electric utility organization that must be done well in order to achieve an environmentally responsible operation that benefits the society, the stakeholders, and the consumers served by the utility.Combining the Sustainability Maturity Model with EPRI’s Materiality Matrix Project will result in a unique resource for strategic decision making in the electric power industry.
Methods
The materiality matrix work will consider the relative materiality of sustainability priorities for the electric power industry. The analysis will include a process to gauge and quantify the relative significance of the priorities from an industry perspective as well as from a stakeholder perspective. This is intended to enable the development of a sustainability materiality matrix for the electric power industry.
The maturity model work involves redesigning the model around sustainability issues such that it meets the demands of the electric power industry. The model is intended to identify the key categories of sustainability issues at progressive levels of maturity, which will serve as an important decision making tool for companies. This model is not intended to give a “score” that must be shared between companies or reviewed by regulators. The tool will allow companies to identify their individual stage of maturity, and identify the specific next steps to move their company toward self-selected stages of maturity. This maturity model will provide an unbiased, non-judgmental, and industry-standardized way to measure a company’s current level of sustainability, and identify clear future action options.
Results
TheSustainability Maturity Model and Materiality Matrix efforts will culminate with an impactful graphic (the materiality matrix) and reports discussing the methodology, results, and insights gained. Combining these initiatives will result in a unique resource for strategic decision making by allowing companies to assess the material sustainability priorities, how to measure them, and then determine the specific actions a company can take to increase maturity in priority areas. The result will be improved risk management, better stakeholder engagement, enhanced reporting, and strategic identification of how the next investment dollar gets applies to advance sustainability.
Conclusions
It has become necessary that power companies understand where they stand and where they envision going related to sustainability performance. Tracking and managing complex projects with varying stages of maturity and understanding business and stakeholder priorities and performance metricsare invaluable skills at the management level of any company and in any industry. The use of maturity models and materiality matrices (in some modified form or another) hase continued to become more common methods to facilitate these tasks. The Sustainability Maturity Model and EPRI’s Materiality Matrix Project for the electric power industry are the first of their kind. The development of these resources will enable the industry to clearly understand and communicate relative sustainability priorities and decisions based on industry and stakeholder input. Ultimately, EPRI anticipates these efforts will move the industry from being reactive to sustainability liabilities dictated by external parties, to being proactive in identifying priorities and decisions, and finally to strategically interactive with stakeholders and agencies.
References
J. Fox and T. Maki, “The Challenge of Sustainable Electricity,” Natural Gas & Electricity, Vol. 28, No. 7, p. 1 (2012).