SAN DIEGO, Oct. 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Sempra (NYSE:SRE) (BMV:SRE) has been named the top utility in Investor's Business Daily's (IBD) 100 Best ESG Companies list. The award recognizes companies that achieve superior environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings and strong fundamental and technical stock performance. Sempra ranked first in the U.S utility sector and 13th overall on the list of the top 100 companies.

"At Sempra, we are on a mission to build one of the largest and most resilient energy networks in North America," said Jeffrey Martin, chairman and chief executive officer of Sempra. "Energy markets will continue to expand and become increasingly integrated. That is why investing in a modern energy network to support cleaner forms of energy and future economic growth is central to our efforts. We are incredibly honored to receive this recognition."

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said, "Sempra is one of the California companies showing that you can have robust economic growth while also leading with environmental, social and governance values. Consumers and markets alike want strong environmental, ethical and social leadership from corporate America, and California companies are leading the way, showing how markets can boost companies that focus on sustainability and growth."

Sempra's three growth platforms – Sempra California, Sempra Texas and Sempra Infrastructure – are strategically positioned to serve the growing needs of consumers in North America and around the world while staying at the forefront of innovation and integrating cleaner forms of energy. Sempra's value proposition comes to life through its commitment to sustainable business practices across its family of companies, including:

Advancing electric reliability, wildfire science and mitigation, electric vehicle-to-grid integration, battery storage and other new technologies.
Expanding new cross-border wind and solar photovoltaic projects with a view toward supplying California's electric grid.
Advancing green hydrogen through Angeles Link, which is a proposal for the nation's largest hydrogen infrastructure network, and hydrogen-blending demonstration projects to help California reach its goal of carbon neutrality by 2045.
Reducing fugitive methane emissions from natural gas facilities, including surpassing California's goal of a 20% reduction by 2025 several years early.
Connecting new solar and wind resources to Texas's growing electric grid.
Developing carbon capture and sequestration, clean power, hydrogen and ammonia projects.
Exporting liquefied natural gas to European and Asian markets to improve energy security and reduce reliance on coal for power generation.

Sempra is the only U.S. utility holding company ranked on the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for four consecutive years and has been included in numerous indices reflecting strong sustainability performance. Earlier this year, the company released its 14^th Corporate Sustainability Report, sharing progress on goals in four key areas: enabling the energy transition, driving resilient operations, achieving world-class safety and championing people.

About Sempra

Sempra's mission is to be North America's premier energy infrastructure company. The Sempra family of companies have 20,000 talented employees who deliver energy with purpose to nearly 40 million consumers. With more than $72 billion in total assets at the end of 2021, the San Diego-based company is the owner of one of the largest energy networks in North America helping some of the world's leading economies move to cleaner sources of energy. The company is helping to advance the global energy transition through electrification and decarbonization in the markets it serves, including California, Texas, Mexico and the LNG export market. Sempra is consistently recognized as a leader in sustainable business practices and for its long-standing commitment to building a high-performing culture focused on safety, workforce development and training, and diversity and inclusion. Sempra is the only North American utility sector company included on the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index and was also named one of the "World's Most Admired Companies" for 2022 by Fortune Magazine. For additional information about Sempra, please visit Sempra's website at sempra.com and on Twitter @Sempra.

About Investor's Business Daily's 100 Best ESG List

All of IBD's Best 100 ESG Companies of 2022 mix profitability with ethical and social responsibility. To come up with this year's list, IBD first screened Dow Jones' ESG index which included more than 6,000 companies, looking for the top 15% of the 1,693 companies whose stock price was $10 or higher and are investable in the United States. Then, the publication screened for companies with IBD Composite Ratings of 81 or better, reflecting broad strength in fundamental and technical areas linked to stock price performance. Finally, it ranked companies by Dow Jones' ESG Ratings. To break the tie at 100 companies, IBD looked at Relative Strength Ratings and Earnings Per Share Ratings, an IBD measure of earnings growth compared with other publicly traded companies.

This press release contains statements that constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions with respect to the future, involve risks and uncertainties, and are not guarantees. Future results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements represent our estimates and assumptions only as of the date of this press release. We assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or other factors.

In this press release, forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as "believes," "expects," "intends," "anticipates," "contemplates," "plans," "estimates," "projects," "forecasts," "should," "could," "would," "will," "confident," "may," "can," "potential," "possible," "proposed," "in process," "construct," "develop," "opportunity," "target," "outlook," "maintain," "continue," "progress," "advance," "goal," "aim," "commit," or similar expressions, or when we discuss our guidance, priorities, strategy, goals, vision, mission, opportunities, projections, intentions or expectations.

Factors, among others, that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statement include risks and uncertainties relating to: California wildfires, including the risks that we may be found liable for damages regardless of fault and that we may not be able to recover all or a substantial portion of costs from insurance, the wildfire fund established by California Assembly Bill 1054, in rates from customers or a combination thereof; decisions, investigations, regulations, issuances or revocations of permits and other authorizations, renewals of franchises, and other actions by (i) the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), Comisión Reguladora de Energía, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Public Utility Commission of Texas, and other regulatory and governmental bodies and (ii) the U.S., Mexico and states, counties, cities and other jurisdictions therein and in other countries in which we do business; the success of business development efforts, construction projects and acquisitions and divestitures, including risks in (i) being able to make a final investment decision, (ii) completing construction projects or other transactions on schedule and budget, (iii) realizing anticipated benefits from any of these efforts if completed, and (iv) obtaining the consent or approval of partners or other third parties, including governmental and regulatory bodies; civil and criminal litigation, regulatory inquiries, investigations, arbitrations, property disputes and other proceedings, including those related to the natural gas leak at Southern California Gas Company's (SoCalGas) Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility; changes to laws and regulations, including certain of Mexico's laws and rules that impact energy supplier permitting, energy contract rates, the electricity industry generally and the import, export, transport and storage of hydrocarbons; cybersecurity threats, including by state and state-sponsored actors, to the energy grid, storage and pipeline infrastructure, information and systems used to operate our businesses, and confidentiality of our proprietary information and personal information of our customers and employees, including ransomware attacks on our systems and the systems of third-parties with which we conduct business, all of which have become more pronounced due to recent geopolitical events and other uncertainties, such as the war in Ukraine; failure of foreign governments, state-owned entities and our counterparties to honor their contracts and commitments; actions by credit rating agencies to downgrade our credit ratings or to place those ratings on negative outlook and our ability to borrow on favorable terms and meet our debt service obligations; the impact of energy and climate policies, laws, rules and disclosures, as well as related goals and actions of companies in our industry, including actions to reduce or eliminate reliance on natural gas generally and any deterioration of or increased uncertainty in the political or regulatory environment for California natural gas distribution companies and the risk of nonrecovery for stranded assets; the pace of the development and adoption of new technologies in the energy sector, including those designed to support governmental and private party energy and climate goals, and our ability to timely and economically incorporate them into our businesses; weather, natural disasters, pandemics, accidents, equipment failures, explosions, acts of terrorism, information system outages or other events that disrupt our operations, damage our facilities and systems, cause the release of harmful materials, cause fires or subject us to liability for damages, fines and penalties, some of which may be disputed or not covered by insurers, may not be recoverable through regulatory mechanisms or may impact our ability to obtain satisfactory levels of affordable insurance; inflationary and interest rate pressures, volatility in foreign currency exchange rates and commodity prices, our ability to effectively hedge these risks, and their impact, as applicable, on San Diego Gas & Electric Company's (SDG&E) and SoCalGas' cost of capital and the affordability of customer rates; the availability of electric power, natural gas and natural gas storage capacity, including disruptions caused by failures in the transmission grid or limitations on the withdrawal of natural gas from storage facilities; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on capital projects, regulatory approvals and the execution of our operations; the impact at SDG&E on competitive customer rates and reliability due to growth in distributed and local power generation, including from departing retail load resulting from customers transferring to Community Choice Aggregation and Direct Access, and the risk of nonrecovery for stranded assets and contractual obligations; Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC's (Oncor) ability to eliminate or reduce its quarterly dividends due to regulatory and governance requirements and commitments, including by actions of Oncor's independent directors or a minority member director; changes in tax and trade policies, laws and regulations, including tariffs, revisions to international trade agreements and sanctions, such as those that have been imposed and that may be imposed in the future in connection with the war in Ukraine, which may increase our costs, reduce our competitiveness, impact our ability to do business with certain counterparties, or impair our ability to resolve trade disputes; and other uncertainties, some of which are difficult to predict and beyond our control.

These risks and uncertainties are further discussed in the reports that Sempra has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These reports are available through the EDGAR system free-of-charge on the SEC's website, www.sec.gov, and on Sempra's website, www.sempra.com. Investors should not rely unduly on any forward-looking statements.

Sempra Infrastructure, Sempra Texas, Sempra Mexico, Sempra Texas Utilities, Oncor and Infraestructura Energética Nova, S.A.P.I. de C.V. (IEnova) are not the same companies as the California utilities, SDG&E or SoCalGas, and Sempra Infrastructure, Sempra Texas, Sempra Mexico, Sempra Texas Utilities, Oncor and IEnova are not regulated by the CPUC.

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Sempra Named Top Utility in Investor's Business Daily's 100 Best ESG Companies List