American Electric Power 2008 Corporate Sustainability Report

2008 Corporate Sustainability Report 7 Our 2006 Corporate Responsibility Report won praise from Corporate Responsibility Officer magazine. Top 10 Issues Raised by Stakeholders • Safety and health in the workplace – leading versus lagging indicators • Climate change – policy position, technology • Cost of electricity – more consumer education • Energy efficiency – part of the climate change solution • Mountaintop mining – position, environmental impacts • Mercury issues at power plants – CAMR ruling • Aging work force – plan to address • Transmission growth and the need for it • Supply chain performance, accountability • Environmental effects/impacts – water, air, waste • Prospective employees • Suppliers and others doing business with the company • Professionals from industry, government, labor and academia REPORTING PERIOD & DEVELOPMENT Leadership, Management & Strategy • Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) This report is based on performance and information for calendar year 2007, but also provides available data for 2005 and 2006 to establish trends against which current performance can be compared. Financial performance is covered in AEP’s 2007 Annual Report to Shareholders. This report contains forward-looking information about our goals and progress. AEP’s Steering Committee for Sustainable Development, co-chaired by the chief financial officer and the executive vice president of environment, safety & health and facilities, guides the company’s sustainable development and participated in creating this report. This executive-level steering committee represents every business function at AEP and met periodically throughout the year. The Committee on Directors and Corporate Governance of AEP’s Board of Directors reviewed the report and its content. The full Board of Directors also reviewed the report and voted to approve it. AEP joined SustainAbility’s Engaging Stakeholders Program, which conducted a benchmark of last year’s report. The benchmark study offered several suggestions for improvement, such as to make a clearer business case for climate change action and to show how sustainability is being integrated within the company. The study also found the report to be comprehensive, candid and transparent. Last year’s report was reviewed by Ethical Corporation magazine, which said: [our] “approach to corporate responsibility reporting is proportionate in size yet without verbosity or hype.” The review offered thoughtful suggestions for improvement that we considered in developing this report. ings in the process of preparing this report, enabling us to engage many more stakeholders than in the past. Our operating companies and power plants, as well as senior management, participated in this process. We worked with SustainAbility, a highly regarded sustainability firm, to facilitate most of our stakeholder meetings. We spoke with state and federal regulators, power plant neighbors, environmental and conservation groups, customers, employees, academia and community leaders. We worked again with Ceres, a network of investors, environmentalists and other public interest groups that works with companies and investors to address sustainability challenges. Ceres brought together 17 organizations for this process. A group of investors also met with AEP to talk specifically about sustainability issues. Our discussions are reflected throughout this report. Our primary stakeholders are: • Shareholders and prospective investors • Customers – large and small • AEP employees and retirees • Labor unions • Local communities • Federal and state legislators and regulators

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of American Electric Power 2008 Corporate Sustainability Report

American Electric Power 2008 Corporate Sustainability Report Contents Leadership, Management & Strategy A Message from Michael G. Morris A Message from Dennis E. Welch About This Report Environmental Performance Work Force Issues Public Policy Climate Change Energy Security, Reliability & Growth Stakeholder Engagement Glossary GRI Table of Contents

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