Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Report 2021

Our Approach

PG&E’s Supply Chain Responsibility team, with the support of senior leadership, promotes an inclusive supply chain by working collaboratively across business units to identify opportunities for diverse business enterprises (DBEs)—small businesses and businesses owned by women, minorities, service-disabled veterans and LGBTQ individuals. PG&E also engages community-based organizations and advocacy group partners to provide educational opportunities that complement our technical assistance program objectives.

Championing Diverse Suppliers

Within PG&E, a group of supplier diversity champions develops annual supplier diversity goals for their respective line of business, monitors progress and develops strategies to increase business with DBEs. These champions—along with supply chain coworkers, volunteers and supplier diversity ambassadors—are the extended team that participates in supplier development and outreach activities, sharing tips on how to do business with PG&E.

Focusing on Small Businesses

To support the growth and development of small businesses, PG&E presents at the CPUC’s Small Business workshops held throughout the year. PG&E also hosts an annual Small Business Consultation forum to collect feedback from small businesses and advocacy groups about ways to help small businesses compete for contracting opportunities.

Encouraging Prime Suppliers to Participate in Supplier Diversity

PG&E’s prime suppliers play an important role in PG&E’s supplier diversity program. We encourage prime suppliers to develop a supplier diversity subcontracting plan, set annual supplier diversity subcontracting goals and track their progress towards meeting these goals.

We provide business education through our Prime Supplier Academy, which also includes environmental sustainability and supplier code of conduct topics. We also host monthly webinars to help prime suppliers properly report and track diverse subcontracting. Payments from prime suppliers to diverse subcontractors are reported, audited and counted towards our supplier diversity results.

Supporting the Competitive Success of Diverse Businesses

PG&E’s Technical Assistance Program is designed to help diverse suppliers build their business acumen. This assistance includes scholarship opportunities to participate in the UCLA Management Development for Entrepreneurs Program, University of Washington Minority Business Executive Program, Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative, St. Mary’s College Business Growth Acceleration Program, Tuck Minority Business Programs at Dartmouth and U.C. Berkeley financial management program.

2020 Milestones

Highlights from 2020 include:

• Actively engaged diverse suppliers in trade shows and conferences. We transitioned to a virtual format to continue to train diverse suppliers on important topics. We participated virtually in local, state and national supplier diversity events to meet with qualified prospective DBEs.
• Expanded capacity-building training to small businesses. We offered 19 scholarships to distinguished U.S. universities through our Technical Assistance Program. We also supported organizations committed to DBE outreach and development.
• Increased inclusion efforts with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Business Enterprises (LGBTBE). We bridged introductions between LGBTBEs and key decision-makers and collaborated with local and national LGBTBE organizations, including the Golden Gate Business Association, Rainbow Chamber of Silicon Valley, Rainbow Chamber of Sacramento, and BuildOut California—as well as the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce.

Measuring Progress

In 2020, the Utility achieved record spending—$3.88 billion with diverse suppliers, representing 38.9% of our total procurement expenditures. We exceeded the CPUC’s goal of 21.5% for the 15th consecutive year.

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

• Minority-owned business enterprises: $2.3 billion
• Woman-owned business enterprises: $1.3 billion
• Service-disabled veteran-owned business enterprises: $327 million
• LGBTQ-owned business enterprises: $6.2 million