Notice of Annual Meeting of Common Shareholders and Management Information Circular
Fellow Shareholders,
Last year, our team continued to execute on Emera’s strategy of safely delivering cleaner, affordable and reliable energy to customers, and in doing so achieved strong financial results that support the continued delivery of long-term value to our shareholders. We look forward to discussing Emera’s performance at our Annual Meeting of Shareholders taking place on May 26, 2022.
In this Circular, you’ll find key information about our annual meeting, details about our 2022 Director nominees and an overview of our governance practices, including our approach to executive compensation and our commitment to strong corporate governance.
A STRONG, ESG-DRIVEN STRATEGY
For nearly two decades, Emera has been a leader in the clean energy transition in North America. This focus continues to drive our growth, while our strong social values and commitment to good governance shape our culture.
As the global demand for carbon reduction continues and policymakers target faster timelines, our strategy and proven track record of choosing and pacing investments in the most cost efficient manner ensure Emera is well positioned to continue to reduce emissions in a way that’s balanced with customer affordability and reliability.
We’ve been working to better articulate our strategy and ESG commitments while also developing a strong sustainability function at Emera that’s grounded in good governance, company-wide integration and strong data and disclosures.
To support this effort, we established a Sustainability Management Committee (SMC) that includes senior leaders from across the business and is chaired by our President and CEO. The SMC drives ESG performance, disclosures and risk mitigation within the business.
DELIVERING ON OUR CLIMATE COMMITMENT
To reinforce our focus on decarbonization and to provide important clarity on our path forward, last year we announced our Climate Commitment — a roadmap of clear carbon reduction goals between now and 2040, as well as our vision to achieve net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050.
While the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic presented challenges across the business, we successfully executed on our $2.4 billion capital plan for 2021, advancing major clean energy and reliability projects as we continue to make progress toward fulfilling our Climate Commitment.
In 2021, hydroelectricity began flowing through the Maritime Link to Nova Scotia, we advanced installation of another 600 MW of solar at Tampa Electric and we completed the first phase of the Big Bend modernization project to further reduce our use of coal at Tampa Electric.
We also continued to innovate and invest in new technologies. The team at Nova Scotia Power launched Nova Scotia’s first grid-connected community solar garden and continues to test the benefits of battery storage systems, electric vehicle smart chargers and bidirectional chargers. At New Mexico Gas, the team is testing hydrogen blending as a way to reduce methane emissions, and a full-scale pilot could begin later this year. Emera Technologies’ innovative BlockEnergy microgrid solution is now part of two residential pilot projects. In addition to providing customers with more renewable energy, BlockEnergy is also helping us explore how decentralization can provide the choice and control our customers want, while also enhancing grid resiliency, reliability and efficiency.
Our collective efforts in 2021 have resulted in Emera achieving a 40 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions compared to 2005 levels. With roughly $5.3 billion committed to additional cleaner energy and reliability projects across the business through 2024, we’re on track to achieve our climate goal of a 55 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2025.
Throughout the year, the team across Emera also worked with stakeholders to achieve important regulatory outcomes that will enable us to continue to reduce CO2 emissions, enhance reliability and provide a better customer experience. We’ve reached rate settlements at all our US affiliates, including Tampa Electric’s uncontested and unanimously supported settlement that was approved by the Florida Public Service Commission. The regulator in Grand Bahama also issued its decision approving our GBPC rate application, and the regulator in Nova Scotia approved the final cost application for the Maritime Link.
For additional details on our key operational accomplishments over the year, see Emera’s 2021 Annual Report.