Biodiversity

Biodiversity is the variety and number of living plants, animals, and aquatic species present in the natural environment, upon which we rely for health, commerce, and quality of life. As part of our corporate social responsibility, we recognize the importance of conserving natural habitat and native species to aid in protecting biodiversity in the regions we serve.

Our policy is to reduce, minimize, or avoid impacts on biodiversity as we develop infrastructure or conduct operations. We will consider biodiversity and mitigation measures or enhancements to the ecosystems of the lands and waterways we manage.

We will do the following to meet the commitments under this policy:

• Assess and prevent or reduce detrimental effects on biodiversity from company actions and ongoing operations, wherever possible.
• Promote, support and participate in wildlife protection initiatives and programs that are responsive to and consistent with our business activities.
• Continue to implement habitat mitigation measures or enhancements associated with projects as we improve and modernize our electric and natural gas businesses.
• Continue to establish habitat reserves on Ameren-owned properties where feasible.
• Utilize native plantings in landscaping or vegetation restoration endeavors where practical.
• Create awareness and understanding of biodiversity by engaging with coworkers and stakeholders including the communities and customers we serve, government agencies, universities and other organizations when planning, building and operating our energy infrastructure.
• Utilize pollinator-supportive and native plants as part of construction, maintenance, and restoration activities where practical.

Avian Protection Program

Ameren worked with a nationally renowned group to develop a corporate-wide program to address recurring bird fatalities, which included occasional bald eagles, at our Transmission and Distribution (T&D) facilities. The program implemented by Ameren Illinois and Ameren Missouri is a multi-faceted, comprehensive approach that includes

• proactive retrofits of facilities at highest risk of avian incidents;
• retrofits at facilities where ever incidents occur;
• training of line crews, supervisors, and outside contractors;
• reporting incidents to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service;
• development of avian-safe standards for T&D construction;
• and avian enhancements such as support of bird rehabilitation centers like the World Bird Sanctuary.

In addition, Ameren initiated a territory-wide review of over 100 substations in Ameren Illinois to assess their current level of avian-safe design, and developed retrofits to reduce the number of incidents at substations. This was an unprecedented effort in the field of avian protection at electric utilities.

The result is that the trendline of avian incidents at Ameren facilities has gone down since the implementation of the program and the program has become a model of best-practices for other utilities in the region.

From installing reflectors and coverings on power lines, to partnering with organizations across Missouri and Illinois, Ameren has taken numerous steps to protect animals and support suitable habitats for all species.