Building a Sustainable Future

For our approximately 9,500 employees across Ontario and the United States, these are the points of pride of working at OPG.

Since our company’s inception more than 20 years ago, we have committed to setting out and meeting key sustainability goals for our operations and managing our impacts. In past years, we reported on our progress through various performance documents and reports.

In this, our first-ever annual Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Report, we take the same approach in reporting on our sustainability efforts, while also detailing our journey to become a more equitable, inclusive, diverse, and socially responsible company. In a quickly changing world, OPG believes operating sustainably and with good governance is not just good business, it is the foundation to building a brighter tomorrow for everyone.

At the centre of our efforts is our goal to help decarbonize the broader economy and be a leader in climate change action.

We know the severe consequences of climate change are already being felt around the world. We also know that on a global scale, it will take significant new investments and much more clean energy to meet the demands of electrification and achieve net zero.

Tackling this existential issue requires bold action and leadership, both of which OPG is accustomed to demonstrating.

Less than a decade ago, we helped largely decarbonize Ontario’s electricity system by eliminating more than 7,500 megawatts of coal-fired power generation, closing the last of our coal plants in 2014. Since then, we have invested in our low-emission nuclear power assets, expanded our hydroelectric production, and established a diverse generating fleet, including solar and biomass.

In 2020, we took another decisive step by releasing our Climate Change Plan, an ambitious blueprint that sets out two goals: to become a net-zero company by 2040 and to help the economies in which we operate achieve net zero by 2050.

In setting our goals, we intend to contribute to the prosperity of Ontarians and Indigenous communities, while delivering more clean energy to ensure the province’s electricity grid remains among the least carbon-intensive grids in the world. We believe our efforts can provide a blueprint for others to follow and achieve similar goals across the energy sector.

Since our Climate Change Plan’s launch, we have made significant advances, including our ongoing work to develop and deploy Canada’s first commercial, grid-scale Small Modular Reactor at our Darlington site, which represents the next generation of safe, carbon-free nuclear power. We are also investing in our clean hydroelectric fleets in Ontario and the U.S., advancing the production of hydrogen, supporting the electrification of transportation across Ontario, and continuing to execute our Darlington Refurbishment project, which will secure 30 more years of clean power and significant economic benefits.

We know to achieve our sustainability and climate change goals, we will need to rely on the dedication, experience, and innovative thinking of our people.

To build a strong workforce fit for the future, we are accelerating efforts to be an equitable, diverse, and inclusive company. Our 10-year ED&I Strategy outlines OPG’s goal to become one of Canada’s best diversity employers by 2023 and a global leader in ED&I best practices by 2030. While much more work remains, we are making progress across the organization, including at our leadership tables; currently more than 60 per cent of our Board of Directors and 50 per cent of our executive team are made up of leaders representing designated groups, including women and racialized people. These numbers are significantly higher than labour-market availability for women in our industry.

We know building a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive company is critical to our success. It will take a wide variety of engaged voices from all backgrounds to help us reach our goals – from operations, to project excellence, to climate change. More than this, we know this is just the right thing to do to ensure everyone can work safely and to their full potential every day.

In 2021, OPG also furthered our commitment to be a leader in Indigenous relations with the release of our Reconciliation Action Plan, which will guide our work with Indigenous communities, businesses and organizations to advance Reconciliation in a meaningful way.

Through the plan, we intend to grow economic benefits for Indigenous communities and businesses, while increasing Indigenous representation across OPG.

These and many other initiatives will help our company play a major role in helping solve the challenge of our lifetime – climate change – while ensuring we remain a sustainable, socially responsible, and beneficial company for communities and Indigenous partners.

All the while, we will continue to deliver low-cost, clean power efficiently, reliably and safely for Ontario and beyond.

Together, we will help secure a brighter, cleaner future for all.