Reporting Our Sustainable Value

Social and environmental performance is just part of our business

2021 Sustainability Highlights

TransAlta has been reporting on sustainability for over 25 years. We report our sustainability information in an integrated annual report, which combines our sustainability and financial performance. This is an industry-leading practice and TransAlta is one of few companies to do this in North America. We believe sustainability impacts should be evaluated, managed and communicated alongside our financial impacts and in turn, show their impact on financial, environmental and societal value.

Our reporting is guided by leading ESG reporting frameworks, including Integrated Reporting (IR), Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) to help inform discussion and provide context on how ESG affects our business. We continue to monitor the development of sustainability disclosure standards to assess our future reporting, such as the International Sustainability Standards Board and the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures.

Sustainability performance highlights for 2021 are outlined below:

Environment
      • Today, we are proud to be one of the largest producers of wind power in Canada and the largest producer of hydro power in Alberta — we have grown our nameplate renewable energy capacity from approximately 900 MW in 2000 to over 2,800 MW in 2021.
      • Our business demonstrates climate change resiliency by reducing GHG emissions – we have a target to reduce annual CO2e emission by 75 per cent over 2015 levels by 2026. Since 2015, we have reduced our annual emissions by 19.7 million tonnes of CO2e or 61 per cent, putting us on track to achieve our 2026 target.
      • As a leader in North American renewable electricity, we are well-positioned to build renewable energy facilities and hybrid facilities to support customer decarbonization goals. Our strategy involves retiring our single coal unit by the end of 2025 and achieving a 100 per cent mix of renewables and natural gas with 70 per cent of EBITDA from renewables.
      • In 2021, CDP (the global disclosure system for environmental impacts known formerly as Carbon Disclosure Project) recognized TransAlta with an B score, this is above the North American regional average of C and represents the highest score achieved by companies in the thermal power generation sector.
Social
      • In 2021, TransAlta’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Council developed our five-year ED&I strategy to achieve the goals and set out a course to attaining the aspirations set out in our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Pledge.
      • In 2021, we achieved a certification from Diversio for our commitment to measuring, tracking and improving Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.
      • In 2021, TransAlta was once again added to the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index — recognition of our focus on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.
      • In 2021, we provided more than $375,000 to support Indigenous youth, education and employment programs, representing 13 per cent of TransAlta’s total community investment.
      • Our Community Investments totaled approximately $3.0 million in 2021, to community organizations like The Calgary Stampede, United Way and many more.
Governance
      • We were once again recognized as a leader in corporate governance, having jumped in our ranking on the Globe and Mail’s Board Games from 14 in 2020 to 6 in 2021 (a score of 97 out of 100). The Board Games assesses the work of Canada’s largest Board of Directors against a rigorous set of governance criteria (well beyond the minimum set by regulators), covering board composition, compensation, shareholder rights and disclosure. The Board Games are undertaken by the Globe and Mail in collaboration with the University of Toronto.