Open Letter: Stem’s Continued Commitment to Equality

Dear customers, partners, and friends –

As we navigate the realities of ongoing racial injustices, I would like to share Stem’s stance on standing in solidarity against racism, prejudice, and violence. First, I want to stress our heartfelt concern for the affected communities and for our nation. We are here to support one another and want to reiterate the importance of your well-being.

At times, one could see why many feel our society, economy, and environment are irreversibly damaged. I recognize that we are in an extremely trying period of systemic discrimination in our country as we also reel from the global pandemic of coronavirus and worsening effects of climate change. More often than not, under-resourced communities and communities of color disproportionately bear the burden of economic and environmental injustice – including the unequal access to reliable energy.

Stem continues to have a crystal-clear vision of how energy storage can alleviate these issues. With that comes an undeniable sense of urgency that drives Stem’s success to deliver the world’s largest digitally connected energy storage network. Energy equity, resilience, and sustainability through the accelerated adoption of renewables has been our mission from day one. Benefits of energy storage and access to uninterrupted electricity has repeatedly been proven to empower under-resourced schools, hospitals, housing, religious centers, and other community spaces.

Personally, I feel that urgency as well as a sense of accountability and responsibility every day as CEO of Stem. We’re committed to that vision, so here are the actions Stem is taking internally:

• We’re hiring. As we grow our team, we are committed to diversifying our workplace with passionate, critical thinkers of any race, class, gender, sexual orientation, education level, veteran status, dis/ability, and those impacted by the criminal justice system.
• We’re sticking to our core values. Stem’s company values include Integrity in everything we do inclusively as One Team because we strive for success through collaboration. To us, that means treating all employees, customers, partners, and stakeholders with professional respect.
• We’re training. We believe that full awareness is the appropriate action as we navigate the feelings and implications of pervasive prejudice. All employees will continue to complete mandatory, annual discrimination training to maintain our culture of acceptance in the workplace and in the field.
• We’re driving policy. Advancing a resilience agenda within the energy storage industry, governments, 8 utility areas, and 75+ permitting jurisdictions of which we work is a priority. Our participation as pioneers in this industry includes advocating for energy equity wherever – and for whoever – possible.

 The shining light is this: Part of our unique opportunity as a young 10-year-old company in a developing industry is that we can build a company trajectory that we are proud of and that we can all benefit from. The Stem leadership team and I are here to listen to concerns and ideas as well as to lead Stem’s culture of diversity, inclusion, and acceptance – always and in all ways.

I wish you all continued safety and a just space to make your voices heard for diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Sincerely,

John E Carrington, Stem CEO