Essential Utilities Inc

Compliance The PAC is overseen by a board that meets on a quarterly basis. At the PAC board meetings, budgets are set, overall giving strategy is discussed, and prior quarterly contributions are reviewed. Political giving is documented and tracked through a database. Transparency is critical to building trust in political activities. All PAC and lobbying expenditures are reported in accordance with federal, state, and local laws. [...] The company reports all corporate lobbying-related activities and expenditures to the requisite oversight agencies. Essential reports lobbying expenditures when required by law. Corporate lobbying-related activities vary by state and have various disclosure requirements.

Describe the process(es) your organization has in place to ensure that your engagement activities are consistent with your overall climate change strategy[…]We take seriously our role in the public policy process. At our disposal are various outlets through which we can participate. Essential engages with government and trade associations in order to educate and address issues impacting our service, which includes matters relating to climate change. Engaging in this activity is important to support future and current candidates who want to maintain our mission by providing a strong water, wastewater and natural gas distribution infrastructure for the next generation, protect the environment, and allow our company to be financially viable. In addition, our management team can participate in Essential's political action committee (PAC). Transparency is critical to building trust in political activities and the activities of the PAC are overseen by a board that meets on a quarterly basis. All PAC and lobbying expenditures are reported in accordance with federal, state and local laws. Our company's overall climate strategy is aligned with our government affairs activities. Given the limited size of our company, there is very close oversight of all our engagement with public officials by senior management. There are several members of senior management, listed and described in this questionnaire, that are responsible for climate change risk management and mitigation in addition to being involved in all government affairs policy-related decision making. This helps to ensure our company is consistent with respect to climate change and that our behaviors and actions are representative of this CDP climate change disclosure. For further information, please refer to our Political Spending Policy, available on our website.

Does your organization have a public commitment or position statement to conduct your engagement activities in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement?[…]No, and we do not plan to have one in the next two years

Describe the process(es) your organization has in place to ensure that your external engagement activities are consistent with your climate commitments and/or climate transition plan?[…]We take seriously our role in the public policy process. At our disposal are various outlets through which we can participate. Essential engages with government and trade associations in order to educate and address issues impacting our service, which includes matters relating to climate change. Engaging in this activity is important to support future and current candidates who want to maintain our mission by providing a strong water, wastewater and natural gas distribution infrastructure for the next generation, protect the environment, and allow our company to be financially viable. In addition, our management team can participate in Essential's political action committee (PAC). Transparency is critical to building trust in political activities and the activities of the PAC are overseen by a board that meets on a quarterly basis. All PAC and lobbying expenditures are reported in accordance with federal, state and local laws. Our company's overall climate strategy is aligned with our government affairs activities. Given the limited size of our company, there is very close oversight of all our engagement with public officials by senior management. There are several members of senior management, listed and described in this questionnaire, that are responsible for climate change risk management and mitigation in addition to being involved in all government affairs policy-related decision making. This helps to ensure our company is consistent with respect to climate change and that our behaviors and actions are representative of this CDP climate change disclosure. For further information, please refer to our Political Spending Policy, available on our website.