Climate mitigation: our pathway to net zero

We first disclosed our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions more than 20 years ago, and began working to reduce them. Today, emissions total about 193,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO₂eq) per year.

In 2019, we announced our commitment, as a member of Edmonton's Corporate Climate Leaders program, to reduce the company's greenhouse gas footprint inside the City of Edmonton by 70% relative to 2012 emissions. The goal would be achieved by using 100% green electricity for all of EPCOR's Edmonton-based operations.

From biogas capture to wind and solar energy, we're working to develop alternative forms of energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions company-wide 50% by 2025. EPCOR’s​ Craig Bonneville talks about the challenge in meeting this goal — and the opportunity.​

With the publication of our sustainability report, we're broadening and deepening our commitment to climate leadership. Our accelerated pathway to net zero will see:

• A 50% reduction in net greenhouse gas emissions company-wide by 2025
• An 85% reduction by 2035
• Net zero emissions by 2050

These more ambitious targets — which now encompass all EPCOR-owned Canadian and American operations and use 2020 as a baseline — reflect the urgent need for climate action, and will deliver early reductions that support the achievement of Canada's targets under the Paris Agreement.

The work to achieve the 2025 target is already well underway. We're developing an on-site solar resource to power our Edmonton water operations, and a green power initiative that is leading to the development of a new wind power resource in Hilda, Alberta. Together, these are expected to reduce net emissions by more than 95,000 tCO₂eq per year.

Upcoming strategic initiatives will identify the best ways to achieve the deeper reductions needed to meet our 2035 and 2050 targets. The accelerating pace of vehicle electrification, the growing potential for renewable natural gas as a source of energy, and the greening of the electricity grid supply, are each potential enablers of emission reductions. But reaching net zero will require internal innovation, and close collaboration with regulators and policymakers.

2021 up​​date

​​EPCOR ​expanded its operational footprint in 2021 with the acquisition of the San Tan water and wastewater districts in Arizona. The fast-growing 160-square kilometer service area already supports over 32,000 water customers and nearly 40,000 wastewater customers. The expansion of our operational footprint in the U.S. and growing demands in the communities we currently serve resulted in an overall 5% increase in emissions year over year.

Despite this increase, EPCOR remains on track to meet our target of a 50% reduction in emissions by 2025, making significant progress in 2021 on two projects to green the company’s electricity supply: the development of a solar farm to support our Edmonton operations, and procurement of renewable energy attributes from the Hilda Wind Farm, now entering construction in southern Alberta’s Cypress County.

GHG emissions by source (tonnes CO₂ eq)

See: Scope of Reporting section of 2021 Sustainability Performance Update Report for a discussion of material assumptions, data limitations, the third-party verification process, and the treatment of Scope 2 emissions from electric distribution and transmission system line losses which totaled 174,578 tonnes in 2021.

Refining our emissions rep​orting

EPCOR’s Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emission reporting for 2021 was independently verified by Brightspot Climate Inc. to a reasonable level of assurance using the ISO 14064-3 standard. The quantitative materiality threshold for reporting is 5% of total emissions.

EPCOR’s 2020 baseline emissions have been revised to 204,553 tCO2eq from the 193,402 tCO2eq reported in August 2021. The revision is due to refinements to the standards for calculating N2O emissions from wastewater treatment, and the documentation of additional contributions from operations in Ontario and British Columbia.

We expect a further and final revision to the 2020 emissions baseline in our 2022 performance update (to be published 2023), based on incorporation of the final 2020 Grid Intensity Factors being published by the governments of Canada and the United States. Because the carbon intensity of Alberta’s grid power supply is rapidly declining, we expect to report lower emissions for 2020 and 2021.

Three-quarters of EPCOR’s reported greenhouse gas emissions are from the consumption of electricity. A significant element of that calculation is the carbon intensity of grid-purchased power in each province and state where we do business. The actual grid intensity value is calculated by authorities on a lagging basis. We used the 2019 grid intensity value in our calculations of 2020 and 2021 emissions, because the 2020 and 2021 grid intensities were not yet available.

In general, due to the publication cycle for grid intensity values, we expect publication of final greenhouse emissions totals for each year will lag by two years.​​​​