Duke Energy's Annual Impact Report Shares Progress Toward a Cleaner Tomorrow That Includes Affordability and Reliability

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) today released its 2023 Impact Report, its 18th annual accounting of its progress toward its sustainable business goals. This year’s report includes highlights from its 2050 clean energy transition strategy, which strives to deliver industry-leading reliability, competitive rates for customers, and accelerated infrastructure and economic development to meet the growing needs of its more than 8 million customers.

Examples highlighted include the many ways in which Duke Energy offers customers options for controlling their energy use, as well as the assistance it provides to its customers in need. Over the past two years, the company has helped customers access nearly $377 million in financial support through a dedicated agency team of customer advocates. It also has made investments in its grid that has resulted in more reliable service to its customers. In 2023, smart, self-healing grid technologies helped Duke Energy’s customers avoid more than 1.5 million power outages, saving approximately 3.5 million hours of total outage time.

In pursuing its clean energy transition strategy, Duke Energy works alongside its stakeholders as it drives toward delivering a cleaner, more diverse mix of energy sources while accounting for the significant engineering, environmental and social considerations embedded in such a transformation, one of the country’s largest in the utility sector.

“As the company executes its clean energy transition, it is assembling a sophisticated puzzle,” said Katherine Neebe, Duke Energy’s chief sustainability officer. “Each piece – energy generation and storage, grid modernization, supporting communities and working with various stakeholders, multiskilling employees and reducing carbon emissions – is essential. It’s about finding the perfect fit for each piece to create a final picture that reveals a landscape of sustainable and interconnected solutions.”

Other report highlights and insights include:

Duke Energy continues to decarbonize to meet its climate goals. The company’s carbon emissions from electric generation are down 48% since 2005 and it is on track to meet its interim 50% carbon emission reduction target by 2030. The path to net-zero is not linear. Duke Energy anticipates some fluctuations in its carbon emissions in the short term as coal is retired and other forms of generation are brought online.
The company is leading the industry with net-zero goals that address 95% of the company’s Scope 1, 2 and certain Scope 3 calculated greenhouse gas footprint.
The company continues to decarbonize its natural gas business unit with a focus on methane detection and reduction of emissions related to the gas it purchases as well as the downstream carbon emissions related to its customers’ consumption of the gas it sells. Duke Energy is also investing in renewable natural gas as an important tool to tackle greenhouse gas emissions.
Duke Energy advocates for policies that reduce the customer rate impacts of investments in clean energy infrastructure as well as support the energy transition, such as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and federal energy tax credits like those included in the Inflation Reduction Act.
Duke Energy submitted 15 IIJA-funded applications to reduce the cost of developing and deploying clean energy technologies and grid improvements in an effort to maintain customer affordability.
The company’s economic development team, working with state and local authorities, helped attract 15,000 new jobs and $22 billion in capital investment.
Environmental justice is critical to engaging communities in the clean energy transition and the company is evolving this work by putting its principles in action. In addition, the team completed over 100 initial environmental justice assessments as part of a holistic approach to project development and execution as well as the development of statewide and regional environmental justice advisory councils across North Carolina.
As the energy sector transitions, the company is working to ensure its workforce and others in the industry are set up for long-term success. As part of this commitment, a team worked collaboratively with various groups to develop a first-of-its-kind just transition approach resource as a guide for successful engagement. Transparency and communication will help the company achieve the most equitable solutions. In 2023, the company and its Foundation provided $120,000 in employee-led giving to benefit coal plant communities.
Inclusive actions drive business outcomes to create a workplace where everyone thrives. To deliver reliable products and services that meet community needs, the company depends on a skilled and diverse workforce and continually evolves its hiring practices to attract qualified professionals.

How the company mitigates the risks associated with its business, while at the same time creating value for its employees, customers and communities, is foundational to creating lasting impact. It takes time to work through all of the complexities of the clean energy transition, and the company is focused on these opportunities every day.