Co-op students help drive sustainable future at Liberty Utilities
By Namish Modi (he/him)
Clean energy organization utilizes students to help achieve environment, social and governance (ESG) targets.
Liberty has set lofty ESG goals for the future. Waterloo co-op students, with a sustainability mindset, are helping the company achieve those goals. Liberty aims to exceed 30 per cent women in leadership roles and build a robust compliance framework — all by the end of this year. The company is confident that collaborating with co-op students will help them to succeed in reaching these targets.
“Liberty chooses Waterloo co-op students as an excellent opportunity for knowledge exchange,” says Kulvinder Bhambra (she/her), senior manager of sustainability at Liberty. “Students can bring the latest cutting-edge technologies to us, and we can use that to exchange ideas and possibly use more innovative ways of thinking."
“The partnership with Waterloo students really reinforces our commitment to education, nurturing talent, and providing opportunity. We’re giving the students real life experience and we’re getting ideas and opinions from the next generation of employees.”
Liberty provides safe, reliable and cost-effective rate-regulated electric and natural gas, as well as water and wastewater treatment utility systems, electricity generation and transmission and distribution services.
The company serves over one million customer connections, largely in North America, with more than $17 billion in assets across North America and internationally.
Impact on a sustainable mindset
Liberty is the 2022 recipient of the Co-operative and Experiential Education (CEE) Employer Impact Award for Impact in Sustainability. The company received the award in recognition of the impact they’ve had on students when it comes to developing and executing a sustainability mindset.
Liberty Utilities’ sustainability goals are admirable and set an excellent example for how a company might approach their sustainability commitments. Waterloo co-op students get opportunities to work on advancing the SDGs, which helps them understand the essential challenges of our future. This is fundamental to empowering them to be informed change agents for sustainability actions in a complex future workforce.
Students help drive the organization to net zero
Tatum Brown (she/her), an Arts and Business co-op student, has completed two terms at Liberty. Over her eight months at the company, she took on the role of project co-ordinator on multiple teams. During her co-op terms, Brown found that sustainability was a major focus for Liberty and a big part of the onboarding process. She appreciated that they often brought in subject matter experts to speak about sustainability at lunch and learn sessions.
“One thing that’s big here at Liberty is continuous improvement and that relates to sustainability," says Brown. "I’ve learned that not everyone has everything figured out right off the bat. But if we’re striving towards this and making choices and trying to make a difference in sustainability, we can continue to improve.”
Brown is among several students making a substantial impact at Liberty. Students in sustainability analyst roles create community outreach programs, community awareness campaigns, and post weekly sustainability tips on the company’s internal communication channel, Yammer.
Students are also involved in creating the company’s ESG and corporation social responsibility (CSR) reports. Co-op student efforts have helped Liberty improve sustainability performance, enhance the company’s reputation and create new opportunities for collaboration and innovation.
Co-op students also help to complete carbon and greenhouse gas calculations and participate in brainstorming sessions related to strategic direction of the sustainability program at Liberty. Along with their sustainability targets for this year, Liberty has recently set longer term targets to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
Bhambra hopes students can be a big part of these goals. “A lot of these students are bringing a vast amount of knowledge and skillsets that we’re able to apply to our operations and to our journey of sustainability,” says Bhambra. “The strengths that we look for in students are that they are very much engaged in sustainability, not just in the school atmosphere, but also in their personal goals.”
In Bhambra’s experience, Waterloo students are self-driven, passionate, and well-equipped for future employment. “I really do think programs that Waterloo provides, prepare students for a fruitful career ahead of them,” she says.
The award showcases our dedication to making a positive impact to the environment, communities, and stakeholders. It demonstrates that our initiatives and our projects are making a tangible difference in contributing to a more sustainable future. Winning this award is also serving as the motivation to continue our sustainable journey and reinforces the importance of our ongoing efforts across the business.