A Message from Patrick Daniel and James Blanchard
Positive outcomes follow focused leadership
As we report on Enbridge’s corporate social responsibility performance, we find ourselves operating in a climate of perpetual change.
Our economic situation continues to evolve as we embark on the huge growth projects we’ve set out for ourselves, as the prices of oil and gas continue to fluctuate, and as the costs of materials and labour continue to escalate.
Our environment continues to change as shifting temperature, wind and precipitation patterns progressively alter the Earth’s climate, and as we all become personally aware that each of us has a stake in finding solutions.
And the social milieu in which we operate continues to transform as stakeholders rightly insist that they be kept increasingly informed of – and engaged in – Enbridge’s activities.
All of this change could be overwhelming except that it comes with enormous opportunity. Opportunity to show leadership. Opportunity to collaborate with leading thinkers in industry, government, environment and consumer groups. And opportunity to act on our good ideas for everyone’s benefit.
We’re proud to say that, in 2007, we took advantage of those opportunities on all fronts: economic, environmental and social.
Our economic performance
Enbridge’s earnings increased 14 per cent in 2007 to $700.2 million, and earnings per share rose nine per cent to $1.97.
While our total shareholder return in 2007 was just three per cent – due to our heavy investments in our growth projects – it has, over the last 54 years, averaged over 13 per cent. This average is thanks, in large part, to our strategy of investing in the future – a strategy we intend to stick with.
With the growth of Canadian oilsands production, we are in an excellent position to play a key role in ensuring that North American markets have reliable access to the energy they need both today and in the years to come. To that end, some of the $12 billion of new Liquids Pipelines projects that we are currently building will become operational in 2008. And, we’re looking at another $15 billion of projects that could become operational after 2011.
Of course, Enbridge’s growth is benefiting not just our shareholders, but the communities in which we operate. We’ve worked hard in 2007 to strengthen many of them through our Building Sustainable Communities investment program.
Our environmental performance
Enbridge has already exceeded our target to reduce Canadian direct greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 20 per cent below 1990 levels by 2010. As of 2007, we had achieved a 26 per cent reduction. We are now revising our GHG reduction target for our Canadian operations and developing a company-wide target that will include our assets in the U.S.
In the area of renewable energy, we have three wind farms that are currently operating. Our fourth – the 190-megawatt Ontario Wind Power project – will be the second largest wind farm in Canada when it begins commercial operations in late 2008.
We are also developing a hybrid fuel cell system to produce clean electricity from energy that is recovered from our natural gas pipeline systems, and are leading a group of over 30 organizations in Alberta to develop a pilot carbon dioxide sequestration project called the Alberta Saline Aquifer Project (ASAP).
And, Enbridge Gas Distribution has over 40 programs to encourage customers to use energy more efficiently and to reduce natural gas consumption. These programs have resulted in a reduction of almost seven million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.
Our social performance
It is with profound personal sadness that we report on two incidents that took place in the past year – one in 2007 and one in 2008 – that resulted in the deaths of three highly valued Enbridge employees. David Mussatti Jr. and Steve Arnovich died in November 2007 in an incident that occurred during scheduled maintenance just southeast of our terminal in Clearbrook, Minnesota. Henri St. Pierre died in March 2008 in an electrical incident at our Kerrobert, Saskatchewan station. As a result of these tragedies, Enbridge has intensified our efforts to live up to our commitment of protecting the health and safety of all individuals affected by our activities.
Enbridge has also continued our work on implementing programs that reinforce our Enbridge People Strategy, which is based on our belief that people are, and always will be, the basis of our success. Under the People Strategy, in 2007, we implemented talent management and workforce planning procedures that focus on employee engagement, leadership and workforce development, succession management, mentorship and knowledge transfer.
We also continued our successful community relations, Aboriginal and Native American relations, and community investment work in 2007. We believe that by effectively communicating with our stakeholders, we can mutually identify, address and solve issues in ways that benefit everyone. And, we believe that, by partnering with and investing in stakeholders in the communities in which we operate, we can help build sustainable communities that have strong infrastructures and programming in the areas of Education, Health & Safety, Culture & Community, and Environment.
Thanks to our CSR initiatives, we’re pleased to report that Enbridge has received some notable recognition. We’ve listed the awards we’ve received in 2007 – and so far in 2008 – in this report.
This recognition indicates that, while CSR remains a work in progress, Enbridge is already doing many things right. For us, the recognition also highlights the good thinking of our more than 5,700 employees, who are committed to our CSR efforts and who tell us that they want to work at Enbridge precisely because of our CSR efforts. We’ve featured a few of our employees in this report. Many others contributed to it.
This report also features some external good thinkers with whom Enbridge has collaborated on various initiatives. These leading thinkers – and many more like them – have strengthened Enbridge’s CSR performance, and we’ll continue to seek out their ideas and to build relationships with them.
Enbridge has an important role to play in bringing energy to people, and we plan to continue to play this role for a long time to come. At the same time, we plan on being one of the world’s most sustainable corporations. With a lot of good thinking on our side, we’re confident we’ll achieve both goals.
 Patrick D. Daniel President & Chief Executive Officer |
 James J. Blanchard Chair, CSR Committee of the Board of Directors |