Sustainability and our values

Connecting our Values to the Sustainable Development Goals

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a shared vision to achieve peace and prosperity for people and the planet. Six Values shape everything we do and our company’s SDG map provides the connection so that we can integrate the SDGs into our strategy and daily operations.

United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals icons

Providing Affordable and Clean Energy (SDG 7) for our customers is the foundation of our company’s long-term strategy.

Alliant Energy shares how our actions align with SDG 7 and many other SDGs to support a better and more sustainable future in our Corporate Responsibility Report. You can also check out our Clean Energy Blueprint website, Illuminate and social media.

Some examples of our recent actions are below.

Think beyond. Be bold: Partnerships for agrivoltaics research

Alliant Energy is continuously supporting innovation in infrastructure (SDG 9), including ways to combine renewable electricity generation with agricultural practices. We have partnered with the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Iowa State University (ISU) on two unique agricultural research projects to better understand the opportunities of agrivoltaics. Agrivoltaics promotes sustainable agriculture (SDG 2) by using land for both agriculture and solar panels.

The UW-Madison and ISU projects will generate enough electricity at their peaks to power 450 and 230 homes respectively, promote academic and community awareness of agrivoltaics, explore economic impacts and allow for further research to enhance the technology.

These research initiatives exemplify the strong public-private partnerships (SDG 17) within the communities we serve. The collaboration between ISU’s intellectual resources and our energy infrastructure expertise was noted as a key reason for the project’s receipt of a $1.8 million grant from the Department of Energy.

Act for tomorrow: Turbine Recycling with REGEN Fiber

With the growth of wind power as a generation resource in our service area comes the growing need for an environmentally conscious method of disposing of turbine blades when they reach their end of life. REGEN Fiber, owned by Alliant Energy’s logistics subsidiary, Travero, recently launched a pioneering method to recycle decommissioned wind turbine blades and scrap materials from blade manufacturers.

The company has developed a unique patent-pending process to convert these wind blades into reusable materials for manufacturers in the concrete and mortar industries, so they don’t end up in landfills or burned in cement kilns. Unlike other turbine blade recycling methods, REGEN Fiber recycles blades without the use of heat or chemicals. The primary product is a top-performing reinforcement fiber that can increase the strength and overall durability of concrete and mortar applications such as pavement, slabs-on-grade and precast products.

Once the operation reaches full production levels, REGEN Fiber anticipates recycling more than 30,000 tons of blade materials per year. Innovative turbine blade recycling solutions like those from REGEN Fiber promote responsible consumption and production (SDG 12) patterns as the wind energy industry grows.

Do the right thing: Transitioning our communities

As we execute our Clean Energy Blueprint, we will remain focused on creating employment opportunities and being transparent in decision-making. In support of employee skill training and education (SDG 4) and decent work and economic growth (SDG 8) throughout the coal generation plant retirement process, we provide career assistance to interested employees. This includes one-on-one coaching, tuition reimbursement and other resources geared toward the individual and unique needs of each employee.

In 2022, we launched the Future Fill Program. The program offers employees at retiring coal plants ongoing employment by awarding positions with a future start date, allowing employees to stay in their current role until the plant retires.

We also seek to be transparent with both our employees and our customers who belong to communities undergoing plant retirements. Our Edgewater Generating Station in Sheboygan, Wisconsin is set to close by June 2025. We have met individually with each facility employee to tailor assistance to their specific needs and interests.

We want our customers to feel the decision-making process is inclusive and responsive (SDG 16). Our community engagement on the redevelopment of Edgewater Generating Station included a virtual public meeting to discuss the process and timeline of redevelopment plus a website to provide ongoing updates and an opportunity for public comments and questions.

We will work to navigate what is best for the communities we serve as the transition toward a low-carbon economy continues.

Live safety. Everyone. Always: Ensuring safety in cybersecurity

Cyber and physical security threats continue to grow and escalate around the world. Therefore, Alliant Energy remains focused on security, reliability and preventing damage to critical infrastructure and disruptions to basic services (SDG 11). Our cyber security team regularly assesses our processes and procedures against industry standards. This includes annually reviewing technology investments to improve our cybersecurity posture as well as ensuring the appropriate level of training to educate cybersecurity staff. In 2022, there were multiple enhancements to strengthen the cybersecurity program, notably cyber resiliency improvements, segmentation of information technology and operational technology, and deployment of automated solutions to address cloud infrastructure risks.

Companywide, employees are required to take annual and quarterly Security Awareness Training and are presented with monthly phishing tests – which had failure rates under 1% for all of 2022. Finally, members of our staff were awarded the 2021 Power Delivery and Utilization Technology Transfer Award through the Electric Power Research Institute for their collaborative effort in creating the Insider Threat Management Guidebook, which was designed as the industry standard for monitoring and detecting suspicious activity and reacting to malicious and non-malicious threats.

Care for others: Increasing our efficiency through Field Technology

We use advancements in technology to make the jobs of our field employees more efficient, so they may continue to do their job and keep the communities we serve, powered. As the sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11) within our service territory grow with advancements to our grid and Distributed Energy Resources, our new programs through the Advanced Distribution Management System (ADMS) will provide real-time operation status of the energy grid through network maps and outage conditions.

 

These advancements improve communication between field employees, allow for more targeted allocation of resources, and reduce risk in times of natural disasters (SDG 11) or grid disruptions. The map feature of our Mobile Workforce Management tools provides transparency for employees of locations of assignments and other field crew, saves travel time and increases efficiency in completion of work orders. Implementing field technology that works with the needs of our employees helps us to serve our company Purpose and limit the disruptions to basic services (SDG 11) in the communities we serve.

Make things better: Alliant Energy Foundation

Our Alliant Energy Foundation is committed to building stronger communities. The Foundation’s annual Drive Out Hunger has raised nearly $5.4 million for hunger relief and provided over 18.5 million meals over the past 16 years. The Drive Out Hunger event and employee volunteering at food pantries supports zero hunger (SDG 2) in the communities Alliant Energy serves. We help students achieve good education (SDG 4) each year by awarding scholarships to over 100 high school students and financially supporting career pathway programs like Iowa Jobs for America’s Graduates.

Our Hometown Care Energy Fund seeks to ensure our customers have access to basic services (SDG 1) by helping them pay their electric and heating bills. Additionally, we strive to reduce inequalities (SDG 10) with donations to nonprofit organizations for programs and community events focused on LGBTQ+; diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I); and racial equity initiatives.

Finally, we work to protect life on land (SDG 15) in our communities with the Community Tree Planting Program – part of our One Million Trees initiative – which awards grants up to $5,000 to plant trees around community spaces. These actions, along with other Foundation initiatives, help keep our communities thriving.

This content may contain forward-looking statements.