SRP Board approves stronger, more aggressive sustainability goals

SRP’s Board of Directors approved changes to further improve the SRP 2035 Sustainability Goals that will now include more aggressive measures to reduce carbon emissions, strengthen the grid to allow more customer choice and improve water resiliency.

The SRP Board initiated a comprehensive community engagement stakeholder process to help inform its consideration of alternatives proposed. Participants included a broad group of stakeholders representing a wide range of customer, community and advocacy groups. These forward thinking goals were crafted with the assistance of SRP management and representatives from a wide variety of organizations including Intel, Apple, Southwest Energy Efficiency Project, Arizona State University, the Environmental Defense Fund, The Nature Conservancy and the cities of Phoenix and Mesa.

The SRP 2035 Sustainability Goals, which were originally approved in late 2017, established comprehensive goals in five key areas: carbon emissions reductions, water resiliency, grid enablement, supply chain and waste and community engagement.

“Through this collaborative effort, SRP has deepened its commitment to long-term sustainability,” said SRP Vice President John Hoopes. “These Board-approved goals are more robust and will help SRP demonstrate leadership in addressing the implications of climate change, including carbon reduction, water conservation and forest health.”

Gary Dirks, Director of the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability at Arizona State University, participated in the process.

“The energy grid is complex, and it takes a lot to transition to cleaner energy resources while still maintaining a reliable and affordable energy supply,” Dirks said. “The SRP goals address the need to balance the reduction of carbon emissions with those key customer values.”

The stakeholder meetings, which included representatives from business, government, environmental and education communities, also included input from the public.

“The SRP 2035 process was very open and responsive to stakeholder input, which SRP considered fully,” said Jeff Schlegel, Arizona Representative for the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project who participated in the process. “SRP made good progress in adopting more ambitious sustainability goals as a result of seeking and being open to input from stakeholders.”

Phoenix Deputy City Manager Karen Peters commended the goals pertaining to water sustainability.

“SRP and the city of Phoenix recognize that providing our residents with a reliable, safe and sustainable water supply requires a continuing commitment to a culture of conservation and wise water use,” Peters said. “SRP 2035 provides a path to identifying and implementing an ongoing commitment to conservation efforts.”

Key elements of SRP 2035 include:

• Reduce the amount of CO2 emitted by generation (per MWh) by 62 percent from 2005 levels. In addition, SRP has committed to reducing carbon intensity by 2050 by 90 percent from 2005 levels.
• Store 1 million acre-feet of water underground.
• In partnership with Valley cities, support municipal water conservation goal achievements by creating and executing programs to identify 5 billion gallons of potential water conservation by 2035.
• Support the enablement of 500,000 electric vehicles (EV) in SRP’s service territory and provide programs and price plans to manage up to 90 percent of EV charging.
• Increase SRP’s leadership role in forest restoration treatments through partnerships, education and support for industry to thin 50,000 acres per year or 500,000 acres. The first project will be to complete the Cragin Watershed Protection Project thinning objective of 37,000 acres within 8 to10 years of selecting contractors to manage the projects.

“This is a set of ambitious and achievable sustainability goals that enjoys broad stakeholder support,” said Kelly Barr, SRP Associate General Manager and Chief Corporate Services and Sustainability Executive. “We are excited to be a part of the process and very grateful to our stakeholders for their incredible insights and thoughtful feedback. These goals will guide SRP into the future and will ensure that we continue to serve our customers and our communities and with sustainable, reliable, and affordable power and water.”

VISIT HERE to view the complete SRP 2035 Sustainability Goals.