At Fortis, we pride ourselves on being a reliable and safe energy provider for our customers. We also strive to be an energy partner. Increasingly customers want to use cleaner energy. They want to know where their energy comes from. Our goal is to deliver on these customer expectations. Sustainability has always been important to us. That’s why our commitment to sustainable practices has remained front and centre over our 130+ years of serving communities and in the decisions we have made while growing throughout North America.

We’ve taken several steps to further strengthen our commitment to sustainability this past year. The Governance and Nominating Committee of our Board of Directors began overseeing corporate citizenship, environmental and social responsibility programs. We also adopted a board-shareholder engagement policy to facilitate communication and engagement with shareholders and we held our inaugural board-shareholder engagement meeting with 11 of our largest shareholders. In addition, in late 2017, Nora Duke, Executive Vice President, assumed responsibility for sustainability. Together, these moves have brought focus and accountability to sustainability activities within our corporation. 

Fortis is mainly an energy delivery company. We use our poles and wires and natural gas lines to deliver electricity and natural gas respectively to our customers. This naturally limits our impact on the environment when compared with energy generation intensive businesses. Our utilities are operated locally on a substantially independent basis. They all share a belief in responsible management that is good for the planet, business and our customers.

We are pleased to report that the carbon intensity of Fortis operations has decreased by 63% since 2015. This decrease is largely related to our acquisition of a large electricity transmission system in the U.S. Midwest in 2016. Since that time, as part of our sustainability efforts, we have also introduced natural gas for transportation programs and kick-started a large electricity transmission project in Ontario to connect First Nations communities to the grid for the first time. The project known as the Wataynikaneyap Power Project will also create a viable business for the benefit of communities for generations to come.

Additionally, we have advanced talent management programs and invested millions of dollars in our communities.

Fortis is committed to reducing our environmental footprint, strengthening governance, enhancing the lives of our people and improving the communities where we live and work. We are proud of the steps we have taken to elevate our sustainability efforts as we remain focused on delivering cleaner energy to our customers. 

For Fortis, sustainability is how we do everything.
That’s true now more than ever.

Sincerely,
Barry V. Perry
President and Chief Executive Officer, Fortis Inc.

Click here to view our 2018 Sustainability Report