In FY21, DC Water became the first municipal water utility to issue an Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) Report. For decades, DC Water has been implementing ESG matters in everything we do, from vast consideration of factors in the natural world and activities that impact stakeholders, to our commitment in operating under a resilient and fair governance framework. We have naturally organized our operations to carry out ESG objectives. Operating one of the country’s largest water and wastewater utilities responsibly and efficiently relies on the awareness and prioritization of matters intrinsically inherent in ESG matters.
In our first report, we focused on providing our stakeholders with ESG-focused information related to our program, projects, initiatives, and goals. We highlighted the alignment of our ESG ambitions to the imperatives developed under our enterprise-wide strategic plan, Blueprint 2.0. In this year’s FY23 ESG+R report, we again showcase how we have adapted our ESG program to prioritize accountability, resiliency, and an integrated relationship with our Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) program. We have published indicators showcasing our ESG performance over the past year relative to our targets to be transparent about how we measured up against our goals. We also published our targets to indicate where we are going and to hold ourselves accountable in the years to come. In FY22, we adapted our reporting framework to an ESG+R (Resilience) framework to recognize the related but distinct part resiliency plays in our enterprise. In our reporting, we discuss our climate, financial, and operational resiliency to demonstrate our commitment to improving our ability to adapt to shocks and stresses that we might reasonably face.
To help us disclose on information related to climate resiliency, risks, and opportunities, we have adopted the disclosure framework of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). You will find our TCFD disclosure at the end of the report where we discuss our governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics and targets in mitigating and adapting to climate change. In FY22, we united our ESG and Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) programs to help in the delivery of our ambitions for both programs as well as Blueprint 2.0. Aligning ESG and ERM allows us to leverage efficiencies in both programs. Aligning them both with Blueprint 2.0, we are harmonizing strategy, ESG, and risk management in every applicable project, program, and policy at DC Water.
We hope you enjoy reading about the new milestones that we have accomplished over the past financial year as well as updates to our existing projects previously mentioned in our ESG reports. We look forward to improving on our efforts in the coming years, using our ESG program to be better informed and prepared for material risks and opportunities we face, and present our performance in addressing those risks in subsequent ESG Annual Reports.
