NGC's Sustainability - A New Credo

Sustainability – A New Corporate Credo for NGC

Corporate sustainability is an approach to doing business that considers people, planet and profits. In essence, it is a future-minded business strategy that allows a company to generate value for itself and its shareholders in a socially responsible way, seeking to improve - or at the very least not jeopardise - the environment and welfare of stakeholders in the course of its activities. In other words, it ensures the compatibility of business with sustainable development.

In its early years, corporate sustainability was a principle espoused by a fraction of the global business community. Today, it is indispensable for success in business, given worldwide acceptance of and subscription to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (NGC) is one organisation that has fully embraced this principle. NGC’s journey to integrate sustainability into its operations has included several firsts for Trinidad and Tobago.

NGC’s sustainability journey The evolution of CSR

Well before the advent of corporate sustainability, NGC had been proactively seeking to support development in Trinidad and Tobago. The Company had been engaging with communities, sponsoring initiatives in sport, arts and culture, education, empowerment and environmental preservation through a diverse corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme. Today, the Company’s approach to CSR has evolved in line with the global focus on sustainability.

While NGC continues to support a variety of organisations, groups and causes across the country under its CSR portfolio, it is now prioritising investments that build capacity or support longer-term environmental and

socioeconomic sustainability. This involves a heavier focus on education, training and skills development and environmental stewardship.

For years, NGC managed its CSR projects through the Corporate Communications Division (CCD). In 2021, as the Company began to assimilate the ethos of sustainability more deeply into its business strategy and corporate philosophy, a decision was taken to rebrand the CCD as the Corporate Sustainability Division (CSD). This change not only reflects the broader organisational pivot, but the attendant evolution of the Division’s focus.

Introduction of sustainability reporting

NGC acknowledges that its traditional CSR portfolio of investments is just one aspect of corporate sustainability. That is, corporate sustainability is not just a function of how much is invested in social causes outside the regular remit of NGC’s business, but how its internal business operations are themselves aligned with the SDGs - how they are contributing to (or impeding) the achievement of those goals.

NGC has begun to reflect and report on its corporate sustainability, and the holistic impact of its business on the SDGs, within the framework of sustainability reporting.

Sustainability –A New Corporate Credo for NGC

Sustainability reporting is a mechanism of account that enables companies to share information on their economic, governance, environmental and social performance in a given year, relative to the SDGs and their associated targets. Pegged to the SDGs, guidelines for such reporting request companies to interrogate and share how their business affects their value chain, the environment and their stakeholders, both positively and negatively. The outcome document, a sustainability report, gives an honest and holistic picture of a company’s impact in its space of operation, and on the global development targets.

the standards and advises on global best practice for sustainability reporting. The GRI network comprises over 500 large and small private and public organisations from more than 70 countries, working to advance sustainability reporting across all regions of the world. NGC became the first company from Trinidad and Tobago to be registered as a member.

Elaboration of a Green Agenda

Among the most important steps taken by NGC on its journey to become a more sustainable company was its elaboration of a Green Agenda. This refers to a collection of initiatives, strategies and investments all aimed at reducing carbon emissions and supporting climate action – one of the most pressing sustainability goals.

NGC’s Green Agenda includes internal initiatives – targeting a reduction in the carbon footprint of the entire NGC Group of Companies – as well as industry-wide and national projects, which seek to make an impact on a wider scale.

Key on NGC’s Green Agenda are the following:

In 2018, NGC became the first state enterprise to produce a sustainability report. The Company has been working since then to expand the ambit of its reporting with each successive publication, to align more closely with international benchmarks for such reports. Across the organisation, sustainability metrics have been introduced as key performance indicators, and business units are paying closer attention to the impact of their work on communities and the environment. NGC also created and filled a new position - Assistant Manager of Sustainability –to help embed sustainability into the Company’s corporate culture and partnerships, spearhead certain Green Agenda initiatives and guide expansion of NGC’s impact reporting, inter alia.

To further strengthen its accountability, NGC joined the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) in 2021. This entity sets

Sustained focus on building the natural gas industry of Trinidad and Tobago, to support use of natural gas as a bridge fuel in the global energy transition;

A methane monitoring and mitigation programme to identify and address leaks along NGC’s pipeline corridor, using satellite data and infrared visualisation;

Collaborative exploration of opportunities to introduce solar power, green hydrogen and biofuels into the national energy mix, through partnerships with NGC Group subsidiaries and industry stakeholders;

Support of academic research into clean energy through partnerships with local universities;

Proactive work with vendors to strengthen supply chains and help vendors integrate ESG considerations into their own businesses;

Sustainability

Active lobbies across the energy sector to reduce carbon footprint of industries, including a Super ESCO project to help improve energy efficiency among light industrial consumers;

An expansion of the Company’s 315-hectare reforestation programme to include agroforestry and eco-tourism components;

A focus on supporting sustainable agriculture to build food and nutrition security;

Energy education through a free consumer-oriented app Energy SmarTT and a Caribbean clean energy research portal;

Decarbonisation of the transportation sector through CNG and alternative fuels;

Support of sustainable energy business development through a Sustainable Investing Initiative.

NGC Energy SmarTT

NGC and its subsidiaries have also articulated the following targets in support of Trinidad and Tobago’s Paris Agreement commitments:

By 2030, to attain 30% of Trinidad and Tobago’s market share for renewable energy and energy efficiency business

By 2030, to achieve a 75% reduction in venting of methane, and 50% reduction of fugitive methane emissions

By 2030, to achieve 12% of Trinidad and Tobago’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) target for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction.

NGC’s Green Agenda is a transformative feature of the Company’s growth strategy, which is shaping the future of the business and the entire energy sector of Trinidad and Tobago.

The road ahead

Sustainability is now a corporate credo at NGC. On the approach to 2030, every business unit within the organisation is framing work done in terms of impact on sustainability and the SDGs. No decision or strategy is executed without thought to potential externalities, and long-term and broadscale impact. Transforming the corporate mentality in this way is ensuring that the Company’s business and growth remain responsible, thoughtful and above all, sustainable for years to come.

By 2040, to achieve 30% of Trinidad and Tobago’s NDCs target for GHG reduction by 2050 to achieve carbon reduction across the NGC Group.

Reforestation

Get published in the 2023 Corporate Sustainability Review

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