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We’re building a clean energy future with innovative, low-carbon solutions.

The United States is experiencing an energy evolution. Southern Company Gas is committed to supporting growing demand for energy in our communities while helping enable a clean energy future - without compromising reliability or affordability. Our sustainability strategy is focused on three key areas: tighter pipes, cleaner molecules and efficient homes and businesses.

3 Key Takeaways

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Since 2021, we have sponsored GTI Energy’s Veritas effort to more effectively track our progress toward net-zero operations.

We have significantly increased leak repairs across our footprint and reduced active leaks by over 75% since 2018.

 

As a founding member of ONE Future, we have reduced our methane emissions rate to 0.201%, and we are helping to identify opportunities to achieve a methane emissions rate of less than 1% of total production across the industry.

 

Investing in a Clean Energy Future

To serve our customers and meet our responsibility as a global citizen, Southern Company Gas has set a goal of net-zero GHG emissions from our operations by 2050. Evidence shows that the use of natural gas and existing infrastructure are foundational to reaching a net-zero clean energy future with the greatest consumer affordability. A third-party study conducted by ICF provided key findings that support our findings. Pipeline modernization, leak detection and repair, damage prevention, reduction in blowdown emissions, using Compressed Natural Gas in our fleets, and investing in renewable gas are all solutions that can help us get there.

Tighter Pipes

Modernizing our infrastructure makes our delivery system more efficient and avoids methane leaks. In fact, upgrading vintage pipes with modern materials is recognized as having the single most significant impact on methane emissions reductions in the natural gas distribution sector. Our distribution system is 100% free of known cast or wrought iron. We’ve replaced them with state-of-the-art, corrosion-resistant pipes.Over a 20-year period, we reduced annual methane emissions from our distribution system by approximately 50% even as our system grew by more than 20%.

Cleaner Molecules

Our state-of-the-art infrastructure enables the growth of clean fuels. Renewable natural gas (RNG) turns waste methane into a domestic source of clean energy for cooking, heating and drying. RNG is primarily carbon-neutral or carbon-negative methane that comes from organic material in landfills or crops, food and animal waste. Providing it to our customers lowers emissions by replacing other sources of energy and reducing methane waste. It’s compatible with existing infrastructure and appliances, making it a great option for a clean energy source for our customers. Through utility tariffs at Atlanta Gas Light and at Nicor Gas, Southern Company Gas has renewable natural gas infrastructure in place and is transporting renewable fuels to customers.

In 2023, Chattanooga Gas committed to providing its residential and small business customers with 100% "Next Generation Natural Gas," sourced from companies actively reducing methane emissions. Virginia Natural Gas, having initiated the use of Next Generation Natural Gas in 2019, is consistently involving more suppliers to enhance the sustainability of natural gas provided to its customers. Both Chattanooga Gas and Virginia Natural Gas have also embarked on their inaugural renewable natural gas agreements, helping to augment the availability of eco-friendly fuel. This agreement's impact on emissions is comparable to absorbing carbon from more than 12,000 acres of forest, roughly the size of Manhattan.

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Efficient Homes and Businesses

The cleanest molecule of energy is one you never use. Energy efficiency programs are an important part of our emissions-reduction strategy, especially as we experience increasing customer demand for natural gas.

We are empowering customers to use energy more sustainability, including in the transportation sector. RNG and CNG are alternate vehicle fuels that have lower emissions than traditional options. According to our industry partner The Transport Project, CNG vehicles reduce emissions of common urban pollutants by up to 90% compared to gasoline and diesel-fueled vehicles and reduce GHG emissions by up to 21% on a well-to-wheel basis compared to traditional fuels.

We are currently operating more than 400 vehicles in our fleet using CNG, and we’re helping others expand access to fueling stations. Our subsidiary Atlanta Gas Light has been helping fleet customers deploy CNG vehicles to reduce emissions by building and maintaining CNG fueling stations for them since 1993.

Advocating for Net Zero Through Policy

Actualizing a net-zero future will take collaboration, advocacy and policy changes. That’s why we engage with policy makers to enhance pipeline safety and drive emissions reductions. This has resulted in the adoption of advanced leak detection technology in all four of our operating jurisdictions in 2022, in collaboration with our state regulators. We support policies to accelerate the adoption of RNG and hydrogen, and through our work with nonprofits, policy-makers, and gas utilities, we produced guiding principles and strategies to inform the decarbonization of natural gas. Find our practices for our parent company Southern Company’s engagement with trade associations and advocating for a net-zero future here.