NextEra Energy's Corporate Responsibility Report details billions in clean energy investment

JUNO BEACH, Fla., Dec. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE) today released its 2013 corporate responsibility report, detailing how the company's growth during the past year has been balanced by a strong commitment to the environment and the communities in which the company operates.                   

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"At its heart, our story is simple - we're investing heavily in clean energy technologies resulting in good paying jobs, yet all the while we're doing so in a way that demonstrates our strong commitment to the environment and the communities we serve," said James L. Robo, president and chief executive officer of NextEra Energy. "As we look to the future, it is essential that as a nation we maintain sound and sensible energy policies so that companies like ours can continue to invest and create jobs in clean energy."

Highlights from the 2013 report include:

NextEra Energy continues to make significant investments in emissions-free generation:

• Over the past five years, NextEra Energy has upgraded six existing nuclear units, adding approximately 700 megawatts (MW) in net generating capacity; this is roughly the size of a midsize power plant
• The company commissioned roughly 1,500 MW of U.S. wind energy in 2012, a milestone no other company has ever achieved

NextEra Energy's emissions rate is far below the industry average:

• In 2012, nearly 97 percent of power generated by NextEra Energy was from clean or renewable sources, including wind, solar, combined-cycle natural gas, and nuclear
• Across the board, NextEra Energy's emissions rate is far below industry averages: 94 percent lower 2012 sulfur dioxide emissions rate*; 77 percent lower 2012 nitrogen oxide emissions rate*; and 48 percent lower carbon dioxide emissions rate*     
• The company is also reducing its environmental footprint by modernizing 1960s-era power generation facilities and building clean, highly-efficient natural gas-fueled plants

NextEra Energy's investments benefit communities and the environment:

• NextEra Energy invested nearly $9.5 billion in capital projects in 2012 alone, creating American jobs and helping communities thrive
• The company provided grants to teachers of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) classes, solar education in schools, wind technology training at the community college level, support for robotics clubs and a restructured college intern program for nearly 200 students    
• NextEra Energy policies and programs have earned the company a reputation as a leader in the protection of threatened and endangered species.  Special efforts on behalf of Florida manatees, the American crocodile, osprey, and the desert tortoise and desert kit fox have been especially effective

NextEra Energy provides these accomplishments and a variety of other data at www.NextEraEnergy.com/crr, a dynamic new destination for laptop, tablet and mobile users.  The new site contains video vignettes, photo galleries and an expanded catalogue of corporate responsibility and sustainability metrics.

NextEra Energy's emphasis on corporate responsibility and sustainability dates back decades. FPL was one of the first electric utilities in the U.S. to form an environmental department, and in the mid-1970s began reporting on its environmental performance on a regular basis. More recently, NextEra Energy has been named No. 1 in its sector for an unprecedented seven straight years in Fortune magazine's annual survey of Most Admired Companies, and FPL received, for an industry-record 10 straight years, the ServiceOne Award for outstanding customer service. The company has been named five times as one of the World's Most Ethical Companies by the Ethisphere Institute and four times to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.                  

NextEra Energy, Inc.
NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE) is a leading clean energy company with revenues of approximately $14.3 billion, more than 42,000 megawatts of generating capacity, and nearly 15,000 employees in 26 states and Canada as of year-end 2012. Headquartered in Juno Beach, Fla., NextEra Energy's principal subsidiaries are Florida Power & Light Company, which serves approximately 4.6 million customer accounts in Florida and is one of the largest rate-regulated electric utilities in the United States, and NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, which together with affiliated entities is the largest generator in North America of renewable energy from the wind and sun. Through its subsidiaries, NextEra Energy generates clean, emissions-free electricity from eight commercial nuclear power units in Florida, New Hampshire, Iowa and Wisconsin.

* Environmental Attributes

The environmental attributes of NextEra Energy Resources' electric generating facilities, such as renewable energy credits, emissions reductions, offsets, allowances and the avoided emission of greenhouse gas pollutants, have been or likely will be sold or transferred to third parties, who are solely entitled to the reporting rights to any federal, state, foreign or voluntary emissions trading program and to ownership of such environmental attributes.

SOURCE NextEra Energy, Inc.