Approach to Sustainability Governance
We are committed to continuing to focus on creating positive, long-term value and emphasizing sustainable performance, as expected by our stakeholders. Consistent with our commitment, we embrace conducting business in a socially responsible and ethical manner, including managing our impact on the economy, the environment, and the communities in which we operate. Throughout our corporate history, we have worked to build a corporate culture that takes into account sustainable operations, encourages improvements where appropriate, and fosters honest and proactive communication with our stakeholders. Our dedication to sustainability starts at the top with our Board of Directors and continues through our everyday processes and practices.
Board Oversight
Our Board of Directors, acting through its committees, oversees Equitrans’ policies, programs, and strategies regarding corporate social responsibility and sustainability, including ESG matters and related risks and opportunities. The Board reviews key ESG policies and commitments, such as our recently published Climate Policy, and regularly receives, directly or through Board committees, updates regarding our sustainability program and pertinent ESG topics, including from our Chief Sustainability Officer (discussed below) and broader management. As part of exercising oversight responsibility, Board members also actively oversee our ESG performance, provide insight on management and process improvements, and review our annual Corporate Sustainability Report. Read more about our Board’s structure and oversight responsibilities on the Corporate Governance page of this report.
Chief Sustainability Officer & Executive Oversight
In 2020, Equitrans appointed a Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) to reinforce our commitment to sustainability. Our CSO designs and oversees the implementation of our sustainability strategy, including our most important ESG topics, and reports regularly to our Board of Directors regarding these matters. To manage our most critical ESG and sustainability topics, our CSO directly oversees our internal, cross-functional ESG Working Groups. Read more in our CSO’s message on our corporate sustainability webpages.
ESG Committee & Working Groups
Equitrans has established an ESG Committee and six ESG Working Groups to help implement and manage the day-to-day efforts and actions related to our most material ESG and sustainability topics. The CSO and ESG Committee outline initiatives to maintain and improve our sustainability program and the ESG Working Groups develop plans to implement the initiatives. During the implementation process, the ESG Committee is responsible for providing oversight and allocating appropriate resources to the ESG Working Groups. Five of the ESG Working Groups were developed to align with our primary ESG and sustainability focus areas, as identified in our materiality assessment. The sixth ESG Working Group is a research and development committee that evaluates new technologies that may enable Equitrans to further incorporate aspects of sustainability into its operations. These ESG Working Groups are directly overseen by our CSO through the ESG Committee.
United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Statement
In 2015, all United Nations Member States adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which outlines priorities for people and the planet to prosper. The key framework for this agenda is the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and associated targets, which represent the actions to pursue social, economic, and environmental sustainability.
As an energy infrastructure company, we understand that we play a vital role in meeting energy demand, which supports growth and development, in a sustainable manner. Many of our environmental, social, and governance efforts are aligned with the SDGs and we have summarized recent examples of our contributions to the SDGs in the table below. Equitrans is continuing to evaluate the SDGs to determine which ones will be the focus to align with our sustainability strategy and Core Values.
Environment
UN SDG |
SDG Target |
Equitrans Material Topic |
Equitrans Projects Contributing to the Goal |
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6.3 By 2030, improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimizing release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally 6.6 By 2020, protect and restore water-related ecosystems, including mountains, forests, wetlands, rivers, aquifers and lakes |
Biodiversity and Land Stewardship |
Equitrans Midstream is committed to constructing, operating, and maintaining our assets to protect water-related ecosystems. We proactively evaluate potential impacts and pursue a strategy of avoidance, where possible; as well as analyze practical and pre-emptive minimization in areas where there is potential for an impact to occur to water resources. With the release of our Biodiversity Policy in 2021, we will outline specific steps to protect freshwater, forest, and other water-related ecosystems during the construction and operation of our assets. |
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7.1 By 2030, ensure universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services |
Energy |
As an energy infrastructure company, Equitrans Midstream is directly responsible for providing affordable and reliable access to natural gas. We are continually evaluating opportunities to gather and transport our products as sustainably as possible while maintaining safety and reliability for our stakeholders in our pipeline operation area. In addition to providing reliable energy to our customers, we can impact this target by working to reduce our energy consumption across our facilities and field operations. In addition to reducing our energy consumption, we are evaluating the feasibility of operating some of facilities using solar energy derived onsite, using electricity for future compressor facilities and adapting technologies like waste-heat capture. |
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13.2 Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning |
Air Emissions Climate Change and GHG Emissions |
As detailed in our Climate Policy, Equitrans Midstream is committed to implementing best practices to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across our operations. We are pursuing new technologies and innovations to create lower-carbon solutions for our gathering and transmission natural gas assets. Further, we are working to implement the cost of carbon into our project development process. Equitrans is dedicated to incorporating climate change measures across the Company and has included annual methane reduction goals into our 2021 short-term incentive program, which covers all full-time employees. During 2021, Equitrans Midstream will formally announce plans for achieving a 50% reduction in methane emissions by 2030. |
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15.1 By 2020, ensure the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and their services, in particular forests, wetlands, mountains and drylands, in line with obligations under international agreements 15.5 Take urgent and significant action to reduce the degradation of natural habitats, halt the loss of biodiversity and, by 2020, protect and prevent the extinction of threatened species |
Biodiversity and Land Stewardship |
Equitrans Midstream believes that it is our obligation to operate in a manner that promotes the protection, conservation, and sustainable use of biologically diverse ecosystems and habitats. We acknowledge that our activities, while necessary to provide a reliable energy infrastructure, can affect biodiversity values within land, freshwater, forest, and other ecosystems, as well as the functions and services that natural systems provide for our host communities throughout our operational footprint. In 2021, we expect to release our Biodiversity Policy, which outlines our proactive approach to safeguard the biodiversity and health of ecosystems throughout our operational footprint. |
Social
UN SDG |
SDG Target |
Equitrans Materiality |
Equitrans Projects Contributing to the Goal |
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3.9 By 2030, substantially reduce the number of deaths and illnesses from hazardous chemicals and air, water and soil pollution and contamination |
Occupational Health and Safety Pipeline Safety |
Safety is one of Equitrans Midstream’s five Core Values. Equitrans prioritizes the safety of our employees, contractors, and community members above all else. Equitrans is committed to providing healthy lives for employees and promoting the well-being of the communities in which we operate through our community outreach and pipeline safety programs. We have established proactive safety metrics, Incidents with Serious Potential and Observations with Serious Potential, to help us anticipate and prevent problems before they occur. This allows us to protect our employees and community members as well as reduce releases to the environment. |
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5.1 End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere |
Diversity and Inclusion |
Equitrans Midstream supports working environments that promote gender diversity. We strive to recognize and promote the talents of women in our workforce. We understand the importance of having various opinions in decision-making roles as shown that the percentage of women managers at our Company is proportional to the percentage of women employed at Equitrans. We’ve extended our gender equality support to our stakeholders with the Equitrans Midstream Foundation’s focus on providing philanthropy and partnerships for promoting diversity and inclusion in the community, including providing contributions to Gwen’s Girls Academic Support Initiative in 2020. |
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8.5 By 2030, achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value |
Diversity and Inclusion |
Equitrans Midstream supports the opportunity for all members of society to be employed. We aspire to serve as an inclusive workplace that is open to all. Our Human Rights Policy outlines our commitment to upholding dignity and respect for our colleagues and for those in our supply chain. |
Governance
UN SDG |
SDG Target |
Equitrans Materiality |
Equitrans Projects Contributing to the Goal |
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9.1 Develop quality, reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure, including regional and transborder infrastructure, to support economic development and human well-being, with a focus on affordable and equitable access for all |
Energy Pipeline Safety Community Engagement |
Maintaining reliable and resilient energy infrastructure is key to our operations. Through our Pipeline Safety Program, we budget for voluntary maintenance checks and updates that exceed the regulatory requirements. For example, we extend Department of Transportation maintenance requirements (49 CFR 192 Subpart O) our high-pressure transmission line networks, beyond the required high population areas. Further, when inspections identify that a pipeline needs to be taken offline for a repair or replacement, this work is completed simultaneously with other work, when safe to do so, to reduce methane emissions from pipeline blowdowns. |