Cleco Corporate Holdings LLC, an energy company, has erased the line between IT (information technology) and sustainability. The evidence? Cleco has named Sybil Montegut as chief administrative & sustainability officer.
Take a closer look, and you'll notce that Montegut will oversee non-financial support functions for the company -- including IT, Environmental and Safety, Human Resources, Supply Chain, Corporate Development, and the company’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) efforts. Those responsibilities will be effective January 6, 2024.
Here are three things to know about Montegut and Cleco's sustainability strategy.
1. Business Scope and Scale: Cleco Corporate Holdings LLC (formerly the Central Louisiana Electric Company) is an electric power holding company based in Pineville, Louisiana.The company conducts business operations through a subsidiary called Cleco Power.
Cleco Power, in turn, is a regulated electric public utility company that owns nine generating units and serves approximately 293,000 customers in Louisiana through its retail business. The business also supplies wholesale power in Louisiana and Mississippi.
A second subsidiary, known as Cleco Cajun, in November 2023 was sold to Atlas Capital Resources for $600 million. That deal is expected to close in Q2 of 2024.
2. Sustainability Goals and Milestones: Cleco completed a Materiality Assessment in 2021 to identify and prioritize Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) topics. That information was used to formulate Cleco’s ESG Framework and implementation strategies. The company is striving to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 60% by 2030 with "aspirations of net-zero emissions by 2050," Cleco has stated.
3. Sybil Montegut's Experience: Montegut joined Cleco in 2008 and has worked in various capacities within Cleco’s financial organization – most recently as the VP of corporate development, analytics and innovation, the company notes.
Cleco's Sustainability & IT Executive: Why Technology Partners Should Care
By 2027, 25% of Global 2000 companies will have assigned a chief sustainability officer (CSO) responsible for meeting their organization’s ESG goals and making ESG-related IT purchasing decisions, according to IDC.
The bottom line: Technology partners need to extend their sales, marketing, engagement and support strategies to successfully fulfill those CSO customer needs, Sustainable Tech Partner believes.
