In Commitment to Ethical Practices and Accountability, Plug Releases Annual ESG Report
Plug made tremendous strides in environmental, social and governance practices, but the company is dedicated to continual improvement.
As a people-first company, Plug is dedicated to providing clean energy products and executing ethical business practices that benefit the customers, investors, and communities we serve. As the leader in the green hydrogen economy, Plug recognizes the impact we can make as global citizens by addressing everything from product end of life to employee diversity to maintaining responsibility for our own environmental impact.
Our annual ESG report — which can be read in full here — highlights our efforts to maintain and grow our business as it relates to the environment, society, and governance.
A Greener Environment
Plug’s pledge to the environment isn’t just reflected in the products we offer to customers, but also through the impacts of our manufacturing processes and our products’ end-to-end lifecycles. We are committed to resource efficiency, responsible design, materials management, and recycling.
Although Plug’s products are 100% recyclable and/or reusable, we are currently working to better understand the environmental impacts of our products’ manufacturing processes and lifecycles. As part of this initiative, we began a project to quantify our carbon footprint for each of our products.
In 2021, Plug also made strides in adopting renewable energy use throughout our internal operations. As a result, we are positioned to use renewable energy at our hydrogen production sites — in New York, Texas, Georgia and California — as early as 2022.
A Community-Driven Company
As an Equal Opportunity Employer, Plug is committed to building a workforce that is reflective of the community and world we serve. To support this commitment, Plug has a DEI strategy that is rooted in data and analytics to measure progress and foster accountability.
In 2021, Plug added a DEI awareness training to the learning plan for our leadership team with plans to distribute this training to all employees this year. Aside from supporting our workforce of approximately 2,250 permanent employees (as of March 31, 2022), Plug has several initiatives to support the community, including students.
Plug has a summer internship program where both graduate and undergraduate students are immersed in a 10 to 12-week experience where they can also earn an opportunity work full-time at the company. Plug also participates in co-ops and senior projects — giving students a unique opportunity to learn about the real-world industry.
In the larger community, Plug encourages its employees to give back in a way that aligns with their individual values by offering recurring and new philanthropy initiatives. We are immensely proud of our significant partnership with the United Way, which aims to advance the common good in communities across the world. In 2020, employees pledged $50,000 for 2021. We are excited to report that $53,795 was donated by Plug employees in 2021.
An Inclusive Leadership
Plug recognizes and values inclusive leadership, and increasing the diversity of our governing bodies, senior leadership team, and workforce is one of Plug’s top priorities.
In 2021, Plug added Kimberly Harriman and Kyungyeol Song, both with extensive experience in the energy sector, to the Board of Directors. In 2022, Plug added Jean A. Bua and Kavita Mahtani who bring leadership in key areas, such as M&A strategy implementation, financial planning and analysis, global financial operations, and compliance. Both will join Plug’s Audit Committee, with Ms. Bua serving as the committee chair.
Aside from the Audit Committee, Plug’s Board of Directors also includes a Compensation Committee and a Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee to exercise oversight and provide guidance related to risks within the purview of each.
Plug is a loyal, ethical, people-first company for employees, customers, shareholders, and the community, working together to build the green hydrogen economy. We are committed to excellence, providing our customers with the ability to seamlessly adopt end-to-end fuel cell and hydrogen solutions to power, fuel, and provide service for their application needs, regardless of market.