California water utility appoints Chief Sustainability Officer

NYSE-listed California Water Service Group has promoted its director of corporate communications Shannon Dean to Senior VP of Customer Service and Chief Sustainability Officer.

California is one of the US states that is most exposed to droughts, so the water utility’s sustainability work has so far been highly focused on water conservation and drought response. In 2021, it appointed Kenneth Jenkins as Chief Water Resource Sustainability Officer to lead these efforts. 

Now, Dean’s focus will likely be on the broader sustainability and climate change strategy, as the group, which provides water supply and wastewater services to 2 million people in California, Hawaii, New Mexico, Washington and Texas, expands its response to climate change this year.

Setting science-based emissions targets in 2024

California Water Service Group has committed to setting absolute, science-based Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets by the end of the third quarter of 2024, as well as energy or GHG intensity targets for the production and delivery of water to customers by 2025.

To set these targets, the company completed an emissions assessment, following the guidelines of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, and calculated a Scope 1, Scope 2 and partial Scope 3 carbon footprint of about 860,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent.

In her new role, Dean will also continue to oversee corporate communications, customer service and government and community affairs. 

California Water Service Group reported net income of US$34.4 million in the third quarter of 2023, down from US$55.9 million the year before.