SoCalGas will award nonprofit organizations
across the utility's service area with grants for projects,
programs, and research that encourage and foster clean, safe, and
innovative solutions toward a clean energy future.
LOS
ANGELES, May 15, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern
California Gas Company (SoCalGas) announced today that nonprofit
organizations can apply for a grant of up to $50,000 from the utility's SoCal Climate
Champions Grant program. The program is looking for innovative
solutions that help reduce, mitigate, or sequester greenhouse gas
emissions, improve air quality, or organic waste diversion
solutions in the SoCalGas service area. Since its inception
in 2015, the SoCal Climate Champions Grant program has awarded more
than 160 grants totaling near $3 million
dollars.
"Every community-based organization has an opportunity to
contribute to the collective solutions needed to reach a
carbon-neutral future," said Jawaad
Malik, Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer at
SoCalGas. "Together, through the SoCal Climate Champions Grant
program, we can turn ideas into action and help empower these
organizations working on innovative climate solutions to drive
meaningful change."
The application window for this year's SoCal Climate Champions
grant opened on April 21 and will
close on June 21. Applications will
go through a multi-phase judging process and grants will be
distributed to the awardees in October. Grant recipients will:
- Receive an award of up to $50,000
to fund new or on-going efforts that align with the
Initiative.
- Gain recognition in a community of accomplished nonprofit
leaders from diverse programs.
- Share their stories through the grant program.
- Be offered the aid of SoCalGas volunteers.
Past awardees include organizations like the Orange County
Conservation Corps (OCCC), whose Green Stormwater Infrastructure
(GSI) project provides a water management solution for runoff and
urban flooding in Orange County.
The program also incorporates workforce education and training to
provide opportunities for youth in local communities.
"This grant helped to enable our corps members to be better
equipped to help manage the impact of weather events on our local
communities in Orange County,"
said OCCC's Chief Executive Officer, Katharyn Muniz. "The Green Stormwater
Infrastructure project helps the community adapt to a changing
climate through resilient management practices like capturing more
runoff during prolonged droughts. These practices can also help
reduce the effects of urban flooding following heavy rainfall
events."
Another past awardee, the Cal Poly Pomona Foundation, utilized
the grant for their innovative low-cost energy storage system using
byproducts of desalination. More than twenty engineering students
assisted in developing a lab-scale thermal energy storage system
that uses minerals removed during desalination for thermal energy
storage. This low-cost and high-efficiency system could help
increase the dispatchability of renewable sources and help provide
peak load shifting when the grid experiences periods of strain.
"Energy storage systems will be key elements of our future power
grid in order for it to be run by renewable sources," said Dr. Reza
B. Lakeh, project lead and Associate Professor and Graduate Program
Coordinator in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Cal Poly
Pomona. "At scale, this project has the potential to enhance the
availability of clean and sustainable power and water in
California."
Under the ASPIRE 2045 Sustainability Strategy, SoCalGas plans to
invest $50 million into communities
the utility serves over five years, working to advance racial and
gender diversity in the workplace, and take tangible steps towards
a carbon neutral future.
Learn more about the application process at
https://socalclimatechampionsgrant.com/application.
About SoCalGas
Headquartered in Los Angeles,
SoCalGas is the largest gas distribution utility in the United States. SoCalGas aims to deliver
affordable, reliable, and increasingly renewable gas service to
approximately 21 million consumers across approximately 24,000
square miles of Central and Southern
California. We believe gas delivered through our pipelines
plays a key role in California's
clean energy transition by supporting energy system reliability and
resiliency and enabling integration of renewable
resources.
SoCalGas' mission is to build the cleanest, safest and most
innovative energy infrastructure company in America. In support of
that mission, SoCalGas aspires to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas
emissions in its operations and delivery of energy by 2045 and to
replace 20 percent of its traditional natural gas supply to core
customers with renewable natural gas (RNG) by 2030. RNG can be made
from waste created by landfills and wastewater treatment plants.
SoCalGas is also investing in its gas delivery infrastructure while
working to keep bills affordable for customers. SoCalGas is a
subsidiary of Sempra (NYSE: SRE), an energy infrastructure
company based in San Diego.
For more information visit socalgas.com/newsroom or connect
with SoCalGas on X (formerly Twitter) (@SoCalGas),
Instagram (@SoCalGas) and Facebook.
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions about the
future, involve risks and uncertainties, and are not guarantees.
Future results may differ materially from those expressed or
implied in any forward-looking statement. 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 otherwise.
In this press release, forward-looking statements can be
identified by words such as "believe," "expect," "intend,"
"anticipate," "contemplate," "plan," "estimate," "project,"
"forecast," "envision," "should," "could," "would," "will,"
"confident," "may," "can," "potential," "possible," "proposed," "in
process," "construct," "develop," "opportunity," "preliminary,"
"initiative," "target," "outlook," "optimistic," "poised,"
"positioned," "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: decisions, investigations,
inquiries, regulations, denials or revocations of permits,
consents, approvals or other authorizations, renewals of
franchises, and other actions, including the failure to honor
contracts and commitments, by the (i) California Public Utilities
Commission (CPUC), U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Internal Revenue
Service and other regulatory bodies and (ii) U.S. and states,
counties, cities and other jurisdictions therein where we do
business; the success of business development efforts and
construction projects, including risks related to (i) completing
construction projects or other transactions on schedule and budget,
(ii) realizing anticipated benefits from any of these efforts if
completed, (iii) obtaining third-party consents and approvals and
(iv) third parties honoring their contracts and commitments;
macroeconomic trends or other factors that could change our capital
expenditure plans and their potential impact on rate base or other
growth; litigation, arbitrations and other proceedings, and changes
to laws and regulations, including those related to tax and trade
policy; cybersecurity threats, including by state and
state-sponsored actors, of ransomware or other attacks on our
systems or the systems of third parties with which we conduct
business, including the energy grid or other energy infrastructure;
the availability, uses, sufficiency, and cost of capital resources
and our ability to borrow money on favorable terms and meet our
obligations, including due to (i) actions by credit rating agencies
to downgrade our credit ratings or place those ratings on negative
outlook, (ii) instability in the capital markets, or (iii) rising
interest rates and inflation; the impact on affordability of our
customer rates and our cost of capital and on our ability to pass
through higher costs to customers due to (i) volatility in
inflation, interest rates and commodity prices and (ii) the cost of
meeting the demand for lower carbon and reliable energy in
California; the impact of climate
and sustainability policies, laws, rules, regulations, trends and
required disclosures, including actions to reduce or eliminate
reliance on natural gas, increased uncertainty in the political or
regulatory environment for California natural gas distribution companies,
the risk of nonrecovery for stranded assets, and uncertainty
related to emerging technologies; weather, natural disasters,
pandemics, accidents, equipment failures, explosions, terrorism,
information system outages or other events, such as work stoppages,
that disrupt our operations, damage our facilities or systems,
cause the release of harmful materials or fires or subject us to
liability for damages, fines and penalties, some of which may not
be recoverable through regulatory mechanisms or insurance or may
impact our ability to obtain satisfactory levels of affordable
insurance; the availability of natural gas and natural gas storage
capacity, including disruptions caused by failures in the pipeline
system or limitations on the withdrawal of natural gas from storage
facilities; 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 the company 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 Infrastructure Partners, Sempra
Texas, Sempra Texas Utilities, Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC
(Oncor) and Infraestructura Energética Nova, S.A.P.I. de
C.V. (IEnova) are not the same companies as
the California utilities, San Diego Gas & Electric Company or
Southern California Gas Company, and Sempra Infrastructure, Sempra
Infrastructure Partners, Sempra Texas, Sempra Texas Utilities,
Oncor and IEnova are not regulated by the CPUC.
View original content to download
multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nonprofit-organizations-can-now-apply-for-grants-of-up-to-50-000-to-further-climate-solutions-through-the-socal-climate-champions-grant-program-302145672.html
SOURCE Southern California Gas Company