As an investor-owned company, our shareholders expect us to increase the value of their investment. Their confidence in our ability to provide a reasonable and consistent rate of return is critical to our ability to pursue sustainability. Our challenge is that many investors and analysts are focused on quarterly earnings and not long-term performance related to sustainability. Analysts are beginning to pay more attention to sustainability issues, but they are not yet factoring them into their recommendations with any regularity, unlike socially responsible investors (SRIs). We are working on a research project with other companies to better integrate sustainability with investor expectations.

Our Investor Relations (IR) team is charged with regularly talking with potential and current investors about our sustainability-related strategies and actions. We continue to press our sustainability agenda with mainstream investors and have begun to increase outreach with many SRIs.

Our IR team participated in 24 conferences and in-person forums, hosted 17 investor visits to Columbus, and met face-to-face with approximately 500 investors in five countries in 2008. These meetings focused on concerns about legislative and regulatory uncertainties in our states, the impact of the credit crunch and banking crisis on our ability to conduct business, and the anticipated opportunities, challenges and financial implications associated with forthcoming environmental policy changes around climate change.