San Francisco-based Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) was one of 10 utilities selected this year as part of the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index, created 10 years ago to track financial performance of leading sustainability-driven companies. PG&E contends that the inclusion makes it a leader in “managing economic, environmental and social issues.” It also operates in a state where political leaders from the governor on down and energy regulators subscribe to the assumption that alternative energy approaches can result in both environmental mitigation and economic opportunity. PG&E joined other utilities including Entergy, Duke, Progress Energy, Xcel Energy Inc. and TransAlta on the North American index. Entergy was the only utility included on the 2008 Dow Jones Sustainability Global Index. PG&E emphasized that earning a spot in the Dow Jones index reflects what it called a “long-standing commitment” to corporate social responsibility, including environmental sensitivity, employee health/safety, corporate governance, corporate philanthropy and community involvement. PG&E CEO Peter Darbee said “never before has there been a clearer line of sight between corporate social responsibility and creating lasting value for stakeholders. Leading companies today have to focus as much or more on how they arrive at their bottom line as they do on the bottom line itself.

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