Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Report 2020

Our Approach

PG&E is committed to cultivating an inclusive supply chain for diverse business enterprises (DBEs)—small businesses and businesses owned by women, minorities, service-disabled veterans and LGBTQ individuals. We collaborate internally across all business units and with the public and private sector, including community-based organizations and diversity advocacy groups, to help grow DBEs and empower them to succeed in today’s economy. We host technical assistance workshops and training sessions to help diverse suppliers operate more safely, securely and sustainably.

Championing Diverse Suppliers

Within PG&E, a group of supplier diversity champions, with the support of senior leadership, set annual supplier diversity goals, monitor progress, and participate in ongoing supplier development and outreach. This group of engaged employees also meets regularly with the supply chain responsibility and sourcing teams to discuss cross-functional strategies to achieve their goals.

At diverse business community events, we are represented by supply chain responsibility staff and volunteer outreach ambassadors, who share information about how to do business with PG&E.

Focusing on Small Businesses

To support small businesses, PG&E hosts workshops and training sessions throughout the year. We collaborate with many small and diverse business community partners, including the U.S. Small Business Administration, to hold capacity-building training seminars.

Encouraging Prime Suppliers to Participate in Supplier Diversity

We encourage our prime suppliers to develop a supplier diversity plan, set a supplier diversity performance goal, accurately report on diverse subcontracting and provide updates on progress toward their goal.

In 2019, our Prime Supplier Academy celebrated its fifth year of success in delivering supply chain responsibility training to PG&E suppliers. The Academy provides resources and tools to assist prime suppliers with increasing engagement in and ownership of their own supplier diversity initiatives, as well as environmental sustainability and supplier code of conduct initiatives. In addition to in-person workshops, Academy curriculum includes monthly webinars that focus on how to develop a supplier diversity plan and how to report and track diverse subcontracting spending.

Supporting the Competitive Success of Diverse Businesses

PG&E offers a wide variety of Technical Assistance Program initiatives designed to strengthen diverse suppliers, many in collaboration with community organizations. Among other things, these initiatives help diverse suppliers build their business acumen and include scholarship opportunities for the UCLA Management Development for Entrepreneurs Program, University of Washington Minority Business Executive Program, Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative, Tuck Minority Business Programs at Dartmouth and U.C. Berkeley financial management program.

2019 Milestones

Highlights from 2019 include:

• Actively engaged diverse suppliers in trade shows and conferences. We expanded our inclusion efforts to six industry trade shows and three supplier diversity conferences, distributing more than 30 diverse supplier registration scholarships. The supply chain responsibility team planned pre-trade show prep calls, acted as guides at the conferences and facilitated business introductions.
• Expanded capacity-building training to small businesses. We hosted or participated in more than a dozen small business-focused trainings and workshops—from Technical Assistance Program workshops to training on how to do business with utilities.
• Increased inclusion efforts with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Business Enterprises (LGBTBE). We expanded our collaborations with local and national LGBTBE organizations, encouraged these suppliers to pursue certification and facilitated introductions with our business unit decision-makers. As a result, we increased our spending from $2.5 million in 2018 to $17.6 million in 2019, working with 11 LGBTBEs as direct and subcontracting suppliers.

Measuring Progress

In 2019, PG&E spent $3.41 billion with diverse suppliers (PDF), representing 41.15 percent of our total procurement expenditures. This was the eighth consecutive year that we exceeded $2 billion and the 14th consecutive year Pacific Gas and Electric Company exceeded the California Public Utilities Commission’s goal of 21.5 percent.

Highlights of PG&E’s spending with diverse suppliers included:

• Minority-owned business enterprises: $2.01 billion
• Woman-owned business enterprises: $1.0 billion
• Service-disabled veteran-owned business enterprises: $299 million
• LGBTQ-owned business enterprises: $17.6 million