ALLETE Highlights Sustainability in Action in Enhanced Sustainability Report

DULUTH, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ALLETE Inc. has released its 2020 corporate sustainability report highlighting the company’s performance related to energy and the environment, social responsibility, and best-practices governance.

The enhanced 2020 report includes both a narrative and supporting metrics compiled in accordance with industry guidance on climate-related financial disclosures and sustainability accounting standards. The “2020 Corporate Sustainability Report: People. Planet. Prosperity” makes it easier for investors and other interested individuals and entities to review the progress, accomplishments, opportunities and goals of ALLETE and its business units, ALLETE Clean Energy; BNI Energy; Minnesota Power; and Superior Water, Light and Power.

The report is available here and at https://www.allete.com/Sustainability

“ALLETE is putting sustainability into action while honoring our commitment to the climate, our customers and the communities we serve,” said Bethany Owen, ALLETE president and CEO. “Our strategy is robust and flexible, designed to reduce transitional and physical risks associated with climate change while advancing the clean-energy economy. ALLETE is well positioned to enhance and grow our companies by providing sustainable energy solutions to meet changing societal expectations and evolving regulations.”

Actions the company takes beyond reaching important environmental and climate goals also are critically important to how ALLETE views sustainability.

“Our view of sustainability includes supporting our customers and local communities to foster a healthy, equitable society,” Owen said. “Building strong communities goes hand-in-hand with caring for the environment. People, planet, and prosperity are part of who we are and what we do every day. This report highlights that view, a perspective that includes reducing our carbon profile, extensive community involvement, significant corporate giving and advocacy for the region, and a commitment to advance diversity, equity and inclusion.”

Highlights from ALLETE’s sustainability report:

• Relative to its size, ALLETE is the second largest utility investor in renewable energy in the nation.

• Minnesota Power has moved more quickly than any other Minnesota utility to add renewable energy. Minnesota Power began delivering 50% renewable energy to customers in late 2020, and a month later announced its vision to deliver 100% carbon-free energy by 2050. SWL&P receives its energy from Minnesota Power and shares in these carbon-reduction and climate goals.

• ALLETE Clean Energy, ALLETE’s fastest-growing company, added two new wind projects in 2020 to increase its wind facility portfolio to more than 1,000 megawatts across seven states, and it has another 300-megawatt wind site under construction.

• Minnesota Power’s total carbon emissions are projected to decrease by more than 50% from 2005 to 2021. Other emissions, SO₂, NO_x, and mercury, also have been substantially reduced.

• ALLETE’s safety strategy has a sharpened focus on culture, systems, and awareness.

• Corporate giving totaled more than $850,000 in 2020, providing significant benefits to the communities we serve.

• More than 40% of ALLETE executive officers and over half of the ALLETE board of directors are women. Recently, Moody’s Investors Service identified ALLETE as having the most gender diverse board among 45 utility companies it examined for a report on board gender diversity at publicly traded North American utilities.

• ALLETE is working to expand and partner with diverse suppliers including minority-owned, women-owned, veteran-owned, LGBT-owned, small economically disadvantaged businesses, HUBZone businesses, and disability-owned businesses so that our suppliers reflect the diversity of the communities we serve.

ALLETE’s corporate sustainability report was compiled in accordance with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the TCFD Implementation Guide. Additional guidance and information were taken from the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), as well as ALLETE’s Edison Electric Institute (EEI) Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) report.

ALLETE Inc. is an energy company headquartered in Duluth, Minnesota. In addition to its electric utilities, Minnesota Power and Superior Water, Light and Power of Wisconsin, ALLETE owns ALLETE Clean Energy, based in Duluth, BNI Energy in Bismarck, N.D., and has an 8% equity interest in the American Transmission Co. More information about ALLETE is available at www.allete.com. ALE-CORP

The statements contained in this release and statements that ALLETE may make orally in connection with this release that are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and investors are directed to the risks discussed in documents filed by ALLETE with the Securities and Exchange Commission.