Over the last ten years, amid a company commitment and intense public pressure to shift to cleaner energy, Southern Company has been making a lot of progress. On Friday the company announced another strategy to help make the shift to greener energy – tying CEO pay to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
In 2007, power derived from coal comprised 69% of Southern Company’s energy mix. Natural gas made up 16% of their power and nuclear was only 14%. Renewables comprised only 1%. As of 2018, thanks to a variety of factors – most importantly the explosion of natural gas usage thanks to fracking and other new technologies – these numbers have shifted greatly.
The company has a goal by 2030 of reducing carbon emissions by 50% as compared to 2007 and a goal of low or zero emissions by 2050. With those goals in mind, the Southern Company Board of Directors added the new metric to the CEO’s 2019 pay.
“This goal reflects our commitment to achieving our low- to no-carbon goals,” said Tom Fanning, chairman, president and CEO of Southern Company.
Coal is now only 27% of the energy mix, natural gas has boomed to 47%, nuclear has stayed roughly the same at 15% (but expect that to change when the Plant Vogtle units come online) and renewables have increased to 11%. The 61% shift away from coal since 2007 has the company on track to meet the 2030 goal.
The announcement comes amid some other good news for Southern Company. The regional energy giant was ranked no. 14 on Forbes magazine’s list of America’s Best Employers. And of the 500 large employers ranked, Southern Company was tops among industry peers. It was ranked first in Atlanta and across Georgia. It’s the second consecutive year the company has been ranked in the top 20. The list was determined by a survey of 50,000 Americans working for companies with at least 1,000 employees.
“It is our mission to create a workplace where diverse perspectives are welcomed and employees feel comfortable, valued and appreciated,” said Fanning. “This honor is particularly gratifying because it is directly based on employee feedback. Southern Company’s talented, diverse and engaged employees are the heart of everything we do as we build the future of energy.”
