Driving Value Through Sustainability at Pembina Pipeline

Pembina is poised to take an industry leading role in the energy transition through its commitment to sustainability and an inspired workforce, says Janet Loduca, SVP, External Affairs & Chief Legal and Sustainability Officer at Pembina.

A leading provider of essential North American energy services, Loduca explains that Pembina has carefully woven a plan together that aligns with its values and reduces carbon emissions across its operations – including an emissions reduction target.  

“We know we can have an integral role as we transition towards a lower carbon future,” she says. “Pembina is excited to be advancing projects that we see as crucial in helping to achieve federal emissions targets.”

In this interview, Loduca discusses what sustainability means at Pembina, the mindset she believes is required for a net zero future, and why her company is focusing heavily on all aspects of ESG, with a particular focus on Indigenous partnerships, collaboration with industry and government, and equity, diversity and inclusion.

Diana Davis, Oil and Gas IQ: What does sustainability mean to you at Pembina?

Janet Loduca, Senior Vice President, External Affairs & Chief Legal and Sustainability Officer, Pembina: Sustainability is connected to everything we do at Pembina. The great value and experience we deliver to our customers, communities, employees, and investors is built upon meeting their needs and expectations safely and responsibly. We are committed to growing a sustainable and dynamic business that our stakeholders can trust.

Our customers are looking for us to help them become more sustainable as well. We are poised and eager to continue working together to meet these goals.

The communities where we operate are incredibly important to us – it really is a partnership. These communities, including Indigenous communities, expect that we're going to respect and protect their land and cultural resources – and we take that to heart. It’s important that we collaborate with all communities to develop projects that enhance their long-term socio-economic wellbeing as part of a sustainable future.

Pembina has a long history of working together with Indigenous communities – starting with more traditional engagements and evolving into truly transformative partnerships with the Haisla Nation and the Western Indigenous Pipeline Group. We believe partnerships like these will define what a sustainable business looks like in the future – and Pembina is already there.

A company is only as good as its employees and Pembina is no different. Our employees want to work for a forward-thinking company they can be proud of.

We've done a tremendous amount of work in the last year recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce to support a culture where everyone feels comfortable, safe, and can be their authentic selves. It’s not something that can happen overnight but we’re making some great progress.

Our investors are looking to Pembina to play an important role in the energy transition and drive positive, meaningful change while continuing to deliver value. Adapting Pembina’s current strengths to flourish through this transition is crucial to our sustainability journey and to investors.

Diana Davis, Oil and Gas IQ: Do you think there has been a shift in recent years in how companies operating in the oil and gas sector view their role in mitigating climate change?

Janet Loduca, Pembina: We absolutely recognize the growing risks and opportunities of climate change and the important role our industry must play in reducing emissions. We believe there is a role for us to play and we are passionate about discovering new ways of operating and developing projects responsibly.  

Our partnership with the Haisla Nation on the Cedar LNG project near Kitimat, British Columbia is a great example. We are deeply aligned with the Haisla values that have driven the project to have one of the lowest carbon footprint LNG facilities in the world – thanks to an innovative floating design and the use of renewable energy. Pembina has a tremendous opportunity to be part of an innovative, Indigenous-led solution that supports the clean energy transition.

Pembina has also partnered with TC Energy on the Alberta Carbon Grid to build out the transportation and storage components of an emerging carbon capture and storage industry in Alberta. Once the carbon is captured, existing pipelines and rights-of-way can transport it to permanent sequestration sites.

This project could be transformational for Alberta because it's not just about reducing Pembina’s GHG emissions – it’s bigger than that. It's about providing a viable decarbonization pathway to multiple industries in Alberta beyond oil and gas.

Diana Davis, Oil and Gas IQ: Turning specifically to emissions reduction. How are you operationalizing your commitments to reduce scope one and scope two emissions?

Janet Loduca, Pembina: In 2021, Pembina set our GHG emission intensity reduction target – a 30% reduction by 2030 based on 2019 emissions. Projects like Cedar LNG and Alberta Carbon Grid are a component of that longer term transition. But there are many things that we are doing today from an operations perspective.

We wanted to have a solid plan behind any targets that we put out there. So, we did extensive work with a cross-functional group of employees to understand the opportunities.

The majority of our Scope 1 emissions come from our facilities. To address this, we are modernizing and optimizing compression facilities to drive fuel efficiency, enhancing leak detection and repair programs at facilities, and reducing flaring and venting.

We are also focused on using less carbon intensive energy in our operations to reduce Scope 2 emissions. We have signed a 100 MW power purchase agreement for renewable energy from a wind power project and continue to investigate other opportunities, such cogeneration at sites where the power demand is required.

Diana Davis, Oil and Gas IQ: We've seen a lot of high-profile companies in the oil and gas sector align themselves with global net zero emissions. Obviously, a very ambitious target. What do you think are the key challenges that firms like yourself will have to have to overcome to achieve those goals by the 2050 deadline?

Janet Loduca, Pembina: There’s a lot we can do today to create meaningful partnerships to foster the innovation required to reach our collective targets. This is a very exciting space for Pembina. Collaborating with industry and government towards policies and potential incentives that will help reach these critical targets is an important part of the process.

The opportunity to identify strategic partnerships with various levels of government is exciting. We’ve got the expertise, we’ve got the drive, and we've got the desire to help the federal and provincial governments meet their emissions objectives. I'm looking forward to pursuing these opportunities as we build on our sustainability commitments.

Carbon capture and storage is a great example of working collaboratively towards reaching emission targets. We know how to do it, but it's not cheap. That’s why the government and industry are working together to ensure that the right fiscal framework is in place to reduce the risk of these investments and encourage further use of the technology.

Diana Davis, Oil and Gas IQ: Obviously, there's an organizational side of all this.  What kind of skills and capabilities do you think companies will need in the coming years in order to make decarbonization a reality?

Janet Loduca, Pembina: We're fostering an environment at Pembina where we encourage our employees to have an entrepreneurial mindset and where they can be their authentic selves. We encourage collaboration so employees can drive progress and innovation across our organization.

We want our people to feel that they're adding value every day. We believe that employees can be advocates and enablers of the innovative change needed to help us meet our climate goals. We already have highly skilled, experienced, and knowledgeable people – we are now working hard on building a strong and sustainable culture.

One of the initiatives that we started last year is our “Conversations 4 Change” series. This grew from a panel discussion we hosted for International Women's Day last year. We invited a diverse panel to share what it is like to walk in their shoes. Our expectation was that we would have about 50 people view the discussion – more than 500 tuned in for the live event and 1,000 people have watched it since.

The outpouring of support that these women received after the panel told us that there is a yearning in the organization for more authentic discussion about what life is like for different groups that may not have had the same advantages.

We expanded the series and recently hosted our seventh edition. We have hosted a pride panel with LGBTQ2S+ employees and allies, a panel led by some of our black employees, one on mental health, disability awareness, Indigenous History Month, and male gender norms. It has been so inspirational to watch each panel – the sense of community and empathy for different perspectives we have seen is amazing.

We've also created an EDI Foundation series. This is training for leaders that includes small group discussions to explore ‘what does equity really mean?’ and ‘what does inclusion really mean?’

I think we are setting the right tone to attract people who want to work at Pembina because they are valued as individuals. This will help us do great things together, today, and in the future.

Diana Davis, Oil and Gas IQ: What is on your agenda at Pembina in the year ahead?

Janet Loduca, Pembina: We’re focused on diversity and inclusion by creating a workplace where all employees can thrive. We’re also putting the structures in place to meet our emissions target. We’re setting the standard for what true Indigenous industry partnerships can look like, and we’re embedding ESG into our systems and processes, so it’s just the way we do business.

Interested in learning more about this topic? 

Join Janet Loduca and speakers from other leading organizations at the Operational Excellence in Energy, Chemicals & Resources Summit in Calgary May 30- June 1, 2022. Global industry innovators will each share their own transformation journey and crucial insights to help your operations blaze a trail to net zero. Find out more about the event here.