ARTICLE
Practice Sharing Work Team In 2021, The Practice Sharing Work team identified supplier affiliate member best practices to share with the Alliance broadly. The team organized 7 monthly practice sharing webinars presented by SAMS (including a co-presentation with a member) which covered a variety of topics from CO2 reduction to extending the useful life of assets to positive social benefits that can accompany environmental initiatives. Assessment Work Team Over the course of the year, the Assessment WT has conducted improvements to the 2021 TSP Assessment and led multiple assessment implementation practice sharing sessions. To further support suppliers in assessment completion, Assessment trainings and GHG calculation trainings were conducted. The team is now in the process of evaluating the Assessment path forward and has recently finished a second round of presentations/demos from potential future assessment providers (most of which have been recorded for reference). The team is working on ranking these potential providers, from which a short list will be selected, and additional details needed to finalize a recommended path forward will be identified. Though the evaluation of the various platforms has been the focus of this work team’s recent calls, team members have also shared updates on their progress towards goals tied to this year’s Assessment completion. As the next version of the Assessment gets solidified, the Alliance team will support utilities in integrating results into decision making. Conference Work Team The Conference WT is proud of the successful 2021 Sourcing Conference, Spring and Fall CPO Roundtables, and the SAM/Utility Event that they coordinated in 2021. The team was able to bring together content that made the virtual platform engaging, informative, and fun. The Sourcing Conference had close to 200 registrations with an average of 3 attendees per utility. High participation on the WHOVA platform was a clear indicator of high attendee engagement. The team received feedback on the Conference and other member events and will consider these comments during 2022 planning. The decision as to whether the 2022 Sourcing Conference will be virtual, or in-person will be made in Q1 2022. Social Aspects Work Team The Social Aspects WT has maintained great momentum through 2021 with engagement around member sharing on practices on supporting SCOC compliance and assessments, aligning with the UN SDGs, and defining and measuring diverse and local spend. With input from many members, the team developed a guide to map utility actions to the UN SDGs and benchmarked local & diverse spend-related metrics. The last SA WT call was centered around a presentation from Bryan Umstead on Duke Energy’s Supplier Diversity University, a 2-day educational conference for the development of diverse vendors, and a presentation from Venus Randle on a variety of DTE’s social sustainability programs that engage suppliers in supporting underrepresented communities. Building upon the achievements of this year, the team will dive deeper into implementation of human rights policies and codes of conduct, key risk hotspots, and other strategic social aspects. Construction Value Chain Work Team In 2021 the Construction WT developed and finalized the Sustainable Construction Materials Playbook this year. It was informed by utility and supplier affiliate member insights and practices, as well as insights from global best practice reports. The report was released at the annual conference with further reinforcement of its value and the importance of addressing opportunities in the space. Further the team initiated the next document in the series Sustainable Construction Services Playbook. This Services Playbook will be a key focus for 2022 along with use of the existing resources, engaging the value chain on improvement opportunities and ultimately pursuing impact reduction. Renewables Work Team This year’s Renewables Work Team was centered around peer-to-peer learning and guest presentations from SMEs and SAMs. The team also initiated the production of a Solar Guidance Document which is expected to be finalized and distributed in the coming weeks. During the November WT call, the team reviewed recent updates in state and federal policies that indicate larger trends of increasing momentum, financial incentives & assistance, and legislation around clean energy programs. Members planned for 2022 and discussed updates and new sections for the team’s solar guidance document. This team is expected to transition into workshop sessions that engage internal RE stakeholders to help increase visibility in this space within member’s organizations. Investment Recovery Work Team Throughout the year, the Investment Recovery Work team built a strong community for sharing successful practices and commodity EoL options, as well as discussing joint challenges. Some of the key highlights from 2021 include benchmarking investment recovery metrics and sharing member practices on contract specifications, supporting material recovery, and efforts to move towards circularity. The IR November WT call kicked off with a conversation on challenges associated with recycling lithium-ion batteries. Team members also spoke about difficulties and solutions related to internal redeployment of equipment, ownership of waste management, and joint efforts with procurement/sourcing teams. The team ended the call with a discussion on 2022 workshops as a mechanism through which the team can address gaps in circularity initiatives that require cross-departmental collaboration. The IR team will continue to meet in 2022, though the WT will transition to a round table structure, supplemented with workshops on integrating circular economy principles within utilities. Investor Engagement - Supply Chain Focus - Work Team 2021 was centered around deepening an understanding of trends in ESG interest and procurement practices to better understand emerging expectations and how to meet those demands. As part of this effort, interviews were conducted with MSCI, JP Morgan, SASB, EEI, Vanguard, S&P Ratings, and Glass Lewis. Some of the successes this work team should be proud of include the development of an inaugural EUISSCA metrics request, benchmarking Investor Relations requests and successful practices, and building on the Alliance’s relationship with EEI’s ESG Scorecard effort. During the November Investor Engagement call, the team reviewed insights from complied ESG Metrics, such as the extent to which utility members include sustainability in supplier performance evaluations, ranges in local & diverse spend precents, and tracking of GHG emissions, among other topics. Members then reflected on key takeaways from a meeting with representatives from S&P Global’s ESG Research team which emphasized upcoming increased scrutiny and reinforcement of existing expectations (i.e. CoC, transparency, measures to manage risks, etc.). Finally, the team started planning for 2022 and intend to pick up again early in the new year to start preparing for a pre-reporting season workshop. Supplier Carbon Goals Work Team Despite being the newest WT, the Supplier Carbon Goals WT has several notable achievements from 2021. The team piloted a custom Hotspot Tool for utilities to gain a deeper understanding of most material S3 emissions sources. Based off results from the hotspot analysis, the team has been working through an evaluation of emission sources by key purchase categories to focus reduction efforts by areas with high potential impact. The team also held a peer-to-peer CDP support group to help maximize points given for existing practices within the organization. Recently, the team identified key impact areas from the assessment and began to define where there are leverage points for reduction opportunities. This involved a discussion on what is best to address at the alliance level versus the company level to drive progress. That discussion naturally evolved into a conversation around 2022 proposed efforts, including engagement with suppliers around opportunities & challenges in key categories; identifying common elements that the Alliance can collectively develop guidance on & influence; and goal setting around S3 carbon and using the assessment to support that. Active Roundtables SF6 Alternatives Roundtable Over the course of 2021, the SF6 team met three times to discuss regulatory developments, utility activities, innovations, and more. The team also had a presentation by EPA on their SF6 alternatives Total Cost of Ownership tool and effort. The last SF6 WT call kicked off with a status update on the CARB Regulation for Reducing Sulfur Hexafluoride Emissions from Gas Insulated Switchgear which is expected to receive final approval from the state’s Office of Administrative Law and go into effect early 2022. Thereafter, team members discussed recent developments, activities, and areas of interest within their organizations around SF6 alternatives, such as anticipated SF6 alternative replacements, and industry level movement. Due to the slow pace of developments outside of California, this team intends to check in less frequently on progress but will continue to monitor developments in this space. SAM Performance Roundtable (Note Exclusively for our SAMs) In 2021, the Supplier Affiliate Member (SAM) Performance Roundtable brought together our SAMs to discuss a variety of topics including: verifying a GHG Inventory, key industry trends, increasing interest in sustainability from utility customers, sustainability assessments, and more. The SAMs also used this Roundtable as an opportunity to provide feedback on Alliance goals, plans, and events. For more information on any of these calls or to be added to a meeting please contact alliance@euissca.org. For more detailed information, minutes from calls (once they take place) will be available on the KSP. To be added to any work team calls please email alliance@euissca.org Work Teams Practice Sharing Work Team The Practice Sharing Work team reviews supplier affiliate member submissions for practice sharing and helps to organize monthly practice sharing webinars. In 2021, this team will work to identify additional practice sharing opportunities beyond webinars, and will work to promote these via our more ambitious social media and promotion efforts. Assessment Work Team The assessment work team is responsible for engaging suppliers and members and encouraging integration of the Supplier Sustainability Assessment into members’ processes. Work Team Priorities Include: 1. TSP update based on 2020 feedback 2. Focusing on getting suppliers to develop and work on achieving their improvement plans, as well as reporting data, metrics, and targets 3. Reporting of 2020 results by key industry groupings via webinar series 4. Promotion of 2021 Assessment 5. Development of a preliminary spot verification process Conference Work Team On top of our annual conference in late September, the Alliance will also be adding in two virtual spring events – a Spring CPO Roundtable and a Spring Supplier Affiliate Member event. This team will play an active role in shaping the approaches and agendas, identifying speakers, etc. In 2021, we will build on the momentum of the previous conferences to engage our industry stakeholders and drive performance improvement. Topic Work Teams Social Aspects Work Team In 2021, the Social Aspects Work Team objectives include: 1. Providing guidance on connecting supply chain practices and opportunities to the UN Sustainable Development Goals 2. Researching recommended metrics and guidance on capturing value from social initiatives 3. Continuing to share successful practice in pursuing the positive aspects of social efforts Scope 3/Supplier Carbon Goals – Work Team In response to utility member interest in better understanding, preparing for and developing our strategies around supplier carbon goals/Scope 3 we have launched an additional work team. This will focus on supporting utilities in understanding leading practice in the area and defining their expectations for their suppliers. Construction Value Chain Work Team The Construction Work Team will convene utility (procurement, specifiers, engineering) and SAM (sales, product development, sustainability) stakeholders to develop construction materials playbook of successful practices, resources, and case studies. Renewables Work Team The Renewables Work Team will explore the sustainability challenges of renewables (e.g., solar, wind, storage) and share solutions to common problems. The aim of the Work Team is to engage internal peers and educate on key renewable energy issues. Investment Recovery Work Team This utility work team will support members in understanding successful practice and maximizing benefits from investment recovery efforts. In 2021, this team will explore discussions on circularity. Work Team objectives include developing metrics guidance and a first draft of a Commodity Playbook. Investor Engagement - Supply Chain Focus - Work Team With the rapid growth of investor focus on sustainability within the utility space this work team will work to better understand the emerging expectations for supply chain, successful practices in meeting and addressing those, and developing guidance on meeting these growing demands.
Practice Sharing Work Team
In 2021, The Practice Sharing Work team identified supplier affiliate member best practices to share with the Alliance broadly. The team organized 7 monthly practice sharing webinars presented by SAMS (including a co-presentation with a member) which covered a variety of topics from CO2 reduction to extending the useful life of assets to positive social benefits that can accompany environmental initiatives.
Assessment Work Team Over the course of the year, the Assessment WT has conducted improvements to the 2021 TSP Assessment and led multiple assessment implementation practice sharing sessions. To further support suppliers in assessment completion, Assessment trainings and GHG calculation trainings were conducted. The team is now in the process of evaluating the Assessment path forward and has recently finished a second round of presentations/demos from potential future assessment providers (most of which have been recorded for reference). The team is working on ranking these potential providers, from which a short list will be selected, and additional details needed to finalize a recommended path forward will be identified. Though the evaluation of the various platforms has been the focus of this work team’s recent calls, team members have also shared updates on their progress towards goals tied to this year’s Assessment completion. As the next version of the Assessment gets solidified, the Alliance team will support utilities in integrating results into decision making.
Conference Work Team The Conference WT is proud of the successful 2021 Sourcing Conference, Spring and Fall CPO Roundtables, and the SAM/Utility Event that they coordinated in 2021. The team was able to bring together content that made the virtual platform engaging, informative, and fun. The Sourcing Conference had close to 200 registrations with an average of 3 attendees per utility. High participation on the WHOVA platform was a clear indicator of high attendee engagement. The team received feedback on the Conference and other member events and will consider these comments during 2022 planning. The decision as to whether the 2022 Sourcing Conference will be virtual, or in-person will be made in Q1 2022.
Social Aspects Work Team
The Social Aspects WT has maintained great momentum through 2021 with engagement around member sharing on practices on supporting SCOC compliance and assessments, aligning with the UN SDGs, and defining and measuring diverse and local spend. With input from many members, the team developed a guide to map utility actions to the UN SDGs and benchmarked local & diverse spend-related metrics. The last SA WT call was centered around a presentation from Bryan Umstead on Duke Energy’s Supplier Diversity University, a 2-day educational conference for the development of diverse vendors, and a presentation from Venus Randle on a variety of DTE’s social sustainability programs that engage suppliers in supporting underrepresented communities. Building upon the achievements of this year, the team will dive deeper into implementation of human rights policies and codes of conduct, key risk hotspots, and other strategic social aspects.
Construction Value Chain Work Team
In 2021 the Construction WT developed and finalized the Sustainable Construction Materials Playbook this year. It was informed by utility and supplier affiliate member insights and practices, as well as insights from global best practice reports. The report was released at the annual conference with further reinforcement of its value and the importance of addressing opportunities in the space. Further the team initiated the next document in the series Sustainable Construction Services Playbook. This Services Playbook will be a key focus for 2022 along with use of the existing resources, engaging the value chain on improvement opportunities and ultimately pursuing impact reduction.
Renewables Work Team This year’s Renewables Work Team was centered around peer-to-peer learning and guest presentations from SMEs and SAMs. The team also initiated the production of a Solar Guidance Document which is expected to be finalized and distributed in the coming weeks. During the November WT call, the team reviewed recent updates in state and federal policies that indicate larger trends of increasing momentum, financial incentives & assistance, and legislation around clean energy programs. Members planned for 2022 and discussed updates and new sections for the team’s solar guidance document. This team is expected to transition into workshop sessions that engage internal RE stakeholders to help increase visibility in this space within member’s organizations.
Investment Recovery Work Team Throughout the year, the Investment Recovery Work team built a strong community for sharing successful practices and commodity EoL options, as well as discussing joint challenges. Some of the key highlights from 2021 include benchmarking investment recovery metrics and sharing member practices on contract specifications, supporting material recovery, and efforts to move towards circularity. The IR November WT call kicked off with a conversation on challenges associated with recycling lithium-ion batteries. Team members also spoke about difficulties and solutions related to internal redeployment of equipment, ownership of waste management, and joint efforts with procurement/sourcing teams. The team ended the call with a discussion on 2022 workshops as a mechanism through which the team can address gaps in circularity initiatives that require cross-departmental collaboration. The IR team will continue to meet in 2022, though the WT will transition to a round table structure, supplemented with workshops on integrating circular economy principles within utilities.
Investor Engagement - Supply Chain Focus - Work Team 2021 was centered around deepening an understanding of trends in ESG interest and procurement practices to better understand emerging expectations and how to meet those demands. As part of this effort, interviews were conducted with MSCI, JP Morgan, SASB, EEI, Vanguard, S&P Ratings, and Glass Lewis. Some of the successes this work team should be proud of include the development of an inaugural EUISSCA metrics request, benchmarking Investor Relations requests and successful practices, and building on the Alliance’s relationship with EEI’s ESG Scorecard effort. During the November Investor Engagement call, the team reviewed insights from complied ESG Metrics, such as the extent to which utility members include sustainability in supplier performance evaluations, ranges in local & diverse spend precents, and tracking of GHG emissions, among other topics. Members then reflected on key takeaways from a meeting with representatives from S&P Global’s ESG Research team which emphasized upcoming increased scrutiny and reinforcement of existing expectations (i.e. CoC, transparency, measures to manage risks, etc.). Finally, the team started planning for 2022 and intend to pick up again early in the new year to start preparing for a pre-reporting season workshop.
Supplier Carbon Goals Work Team
Despite being the newest WT, the Supplier Carbon Goals WT has several notable achievements from 2021. The team piloted a custom Hotspot Tool for utilities to gain a deeper understanding of most material S3 emissions sources. Based off results from the hotspot analysis, the team has been working through an evaluation of emission sources by key purchase categories to focus reduction efforts by areas with high potential impact. The team also held a peer-to-peer CDP support group to help maximize points given for existing practices within the organization. Recently, the team identified key impact areas from the assessment and began to define where there are leverage points for reduction opportunities. This involved a discussion on what is best to address at the alliance level versus the company level to drive progress. That discussion naturally evolved into a conversation around 2022 proposed efforts, including engagement with suppliers around opportunities & challenges in key categories; identifying common elements that the Alliance can collectively develop guidance on & influence; and goal setting around S3 carbon and using the assessment to support that.
Active Roundtables
SF6 Alternatives Roundtable Over the course of 2021, the SF6 team met three times to discuss regulatory developments, utility activities, innovations, and more. The team also had a presentation by EPA on their SF6 alternatives Total Cost of Ownership tool and effort. The last SF6 WT call kicked off with a status update on the CARB Regulation for Reducing Sulfur Hexafluoride Emissions from Gas Insulated Switchgear which is expected to receive final approval from the state’s Office of Administrative Law and go into effect early 2022. Thereafter, team members discussed recent developments, activities, and areas of interest within their organizations around SF6 alternatives, such as anticipated SF6 alternative replacements, and industry level movement. Due to the slow pace of developments outside of California, this team intends to check in less frequently on progress but will continue to monitor developments in this space.
SAM Performance Roundtable (Note Exclusively for our SAMs)
In 2021, the Supplier Affiliate Member (SAM) Performance Roundtable brought together our SAMs to discuss a variety of topics including: verifying a GHG Inventory, key industry trends, increasing interest in sustainability from utility customers, sustainability assessments, and more. The SAMs also used this Roundtable as an opportunity to provide feedback on Alliance goals, plans, and events.
For more information on any of these calls or to be added to a meeting please contact alliance@euissca.org.
For more detailed information, minutes from calls (once they take place) will be available on the KSP.
To be added to any work team calls please email alliance@euissca.org
Practice Sharing Work Team The Practice Sharing Work team reviews supplier affiliate member submissions for practice sharing and helps to organize monthly practice sharing webinars. In 2021, this team will work to identify additional practice sharing opportunities beyond webinars, and will work to promote these via our more ambitious social media and promotion efforts.
Assessment Work Team The assessment work team is responsible for engaging suppliers and members and encouraging integration of the Supplier Sustainability Assessment into members’ processes. Work Team Priorities Include:
1. TSP update based on 2020 feedback
2. Focusing on getting suppliers to develop and work on achieving their improvement plans, as well as reporting data, metrics, and targets
3. Reporting of 2020 results by key industry groupings via webinar series
4. Promotion of 2021 Assessment
5. Development of a preliminary spot verification process
Conference Work Team On top of our annual conference in late September, the Alliance will also be adding in two virtual spring events – a Spring CPO Roundtable and a Spring Supplier Affiliate Member event. This team will play an active role in shaping the approaches and agendas, identifying speakers, etc. In 2021, we will build on the momentum of the previous conferences to engage our industry stakeholders and drive performance improvement.
Social Aspects Work Team In 2021, the Social Aspects Work Team objectives include:
1. Providing guidance on connecting supply chain practices and opportunities to the UN Sustainable Development Goals
2. Researching recommended metrics and guidance on capturing value from social initiatives
3. Continuing to share successful practice in pursuing the positive aspects of social efforts
Scope 3/Supplier Carbon Goals – Work Team
In response to utility member interest in better understanding, preparing for and developing our strategies around supplier carbon goals/Scope 3 we have launched an additional work team. This will focus on supporting utilities in understanding leading practice in the area and defining their expectations for their suppliers.
Construction Value Chain Work Team The Construction Work Team will convene utility (procurement, specifiers, engineering) and SAM (sales, product development, sustainability) stakeholders to develop construction materials playbook of successful practices, resources, and case studies.
Renewables Work Team The Renewables Work Team will explore the sustainability challenges of renewables (e.g., solar, wind, storage) and share solutions to common problems. The aim of the Work Team is to engage internal peers and educate on key renewable energy issues.
Investment Recovery Work Team This utility work team will support members in understanding successful practice and maximizing benefits from investment recovery efforts. In 2021, this team will explore discussions on circularity. Work Team objectives include developing metrics guidance and a first draft of a Commodity Playbook.
Investor Engagement - Supply Chain Focus - Work Team With the rapid growth of investor focus on sustainability within the utility space this work team will work to better understand the emerging expectations for supply chain, successful practices in meeting and addressing those, and developing guidance on meeting these growing demands.