FIRSTENERGY CORP

Our Commitment to EESG

We believe our success requires strong management and oversight of EESG matters, as well as transparency and accountability regarding where we need to improve and how we are going to succeed. We also believe staying true to our mission and core values means executing our corporate responsibility to pursue objectives and initiatives that positively impact our stakeholders.

The EESG priorities that are discussed in the introduction of this 2024 Proxy Statement comprise our corporate responsibility approach and also support the pillars of our company strategy. We strive to provide transparency, identify risks and opportunities, improve our performance and drive accountability in those core EESG areas, among others.

Our commitment to employees is an essential part of our EESG focus. Our people are the force that move our company forward – advancing our business strategy and driving EESG performance, so we can turn our vision and goals into a reality. As such, FirstEnergy uses “Employee” as the first pillar of its corporate responsibility framework. Foregrounding employees pays tribute to their role in executing FirstEnergy’s strategy and underscores the company’s commitment to building a safe, inclusive, and equitable work culture for everyone.

Human Capital Management

FirstEnergy strives to be the employer of choice in our operating areas, and we seek to be known for our diverse team, our culture of equity, inclusion and belonging, and our dedication to helping our employees reach their full potential. We want our culture to empower employees to support our mission, build satisfying and engaging careers at FirstEnergy and drive our success.

Our core values – Integrity, Safety, DEI, Performance Excellence and Stewardship – are the foundation for how FirstEnergy operates, behaves and interacts every day. They identify the beliefs or ideals expected by everyone in the organization and guide the decisions made and actions taken. Built upon our core values, our talent management and total rewards processes are designed to attract, retain, focus, reward and develop a diverse and skilled workforce of high-performing employees and teams.

FirstEnergy’s financial and operational performance is the result of our employees’ efforts and behaviors. We foster an environment where integrity and ethical behaviors are expected from all levels within the organization. By focusing not only on what we achieve, but how we achieve it, we support the Company’s mission to be a forward-thinking electric utility that is powered by a diverse team of employees committed to ethics and integrity and doing the right thing every time. Behaviors such as courage, accountability, customer focus, collaboration and trust are continuously reinforced. Employees are expected to make the right decisions and to speak up when something does not seem consistent with our core values or violates the FirstEnergy Code of Conduct.

Driving a Culture of Compliance and Integrity

Integrity is as foundational to our business as safety. All our leaders and employees play a critical role in creating an environment where our business practices are consistent with our values – helping individuals do the right thing and treating our coworkers, customers and communities with respect. An ethics and compliance modifier for allnon-bargaining, non-physical employees in our annual incentive compensation program drives employee accountability and reinforces the importance of a strong culture of ethics and integrity.

The Office of Ethics and Compliance (OEC) oversees organization-wide compliance, assurance, training and communications. The OEC is focused on embedding a culture of uncompromising integrity and ethical behavior throughout the Company. Key areas of that focus include:

People: centralizing the compliance function with dedicated personnel

Processes: enhance compliance standards, policies, and procedures, focusing on:

Reporting: enhance feedback opportunities from employees

Benchmarking: metrics to measure program effectiveness

Safety

Safety is an unwavering core value of FirstEnergy. The company’s safety and compensation programs are designed to consistently reinforce the shared and personal accountability for controlling exposure to hazards and continuously improving safety culture, behaviors, systems and controls.

Safety metrics, such as injuries that result in days away or restricted time and those that cause life-changing impacts, are monitored, internally reported, and are included in our annual incentive compensation program. With emphasis on “Leading with Safety,” leaders and employees receive safety training and reinforcement of exposure control concepts to improve job site exposure identification, communication and prevention of life-changing events in order to drive excellence in personal, contractor and public safety.

Our commitment to safety includes our customers and communities. Our ongoing STOP.LOOK. LIVE. public safety outreach campaign promotes electrical safety awareness and education in our communities, with a focus onat-risk workers, first responders and school children. We also utilize Live Wire Electrical Safety demonstration trailers across our footprint to educate and prepare first responders and other members of the community who may come near our electrical lines and equipment, and we are expanding this Live Wire outreach with electrical demonstrations forschool-age children. In addition, we continue to implement educational campaigns that target relevant and contemporary issues like drone operations and avoiding overhead wires when working outdoors.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

DEI is a core value that positions us to deliver better service to customers, strengthen our operational performance and create an inclusive work environment where employees feel valued and respected. Our DEI strategy aligns around three pillars:

FirstEnergy is committed to advancing DEI in our workplace. Here are some of the highlights:

Workforce Pay Equity and Compensation

FirstEnergy’s total rewards program is designed to attract, motivate, retain and reward employees for their role in the success of FirstEnergy. The base pay program is designed to provide individual base pay levels that balance an employee’s value to FirstEnergy with comparable jobs at peer companies. FirstEnergy is committed to ensuring that our internal policies and processes support pay equity, which was confirmed in a third-party review of our practices in 2019 and continues to be part of our normal ongoing process. The annual incentive compensation program is designed to reward the achievement of near-term corporate and business unit objectives. In 2023, we introduced a discretionary component to our Short-Term Incentive Compensation Program as part of our commitment to establishing greater performance accountability among our leaders for living our values and behaviors and recognizing our highest performing non-bargaining employees. Additionally, FirstEnergy’s long-term incentive compensation program is designed to reward eligible executives for FirstEnergy’s achievement of longer-term goals intended to drive shareholder value and growth. In addition to base pay and incentive compensation plans, FirstEnergy offers a comprehensive benefits program including a 401(k) savings plan and a defined benefit pension plan.

Employee Growth and Development

We believe understanding our rapidly changing industry and our Company strategy is key to our employees’ abilities to support our mission and meet our customers’ evolving needs. We are committed to preparing our high-performing workforce for the future and helping employees reach their full potential. We provide employees with opportunities to develop their skills and competencies and prepare our emerging leaders for expanded responsibilities. Our career management process requires that employees put an intentional focus on their development and identify development plans that support their ability to learn and grow in their current roles and to help prepare for future opportunities. We provide tools, programs and resources to support employees in owning their careers and development. As an example, in 2023, we launched our new, integrated human capital management technology platform and simultaneously continued a Talent Management Transparency education series to ensure employees understand our hiring, performance management and succession planning processes in support of their development.

Toward that end, we are actively engaged in the following initiatives:

Stewardship

For more than a century, FirstEnergy and its predecessor companies have worked to improve the quality of life in the places where our customers and employees live and work. Through our core value of stewardship, we strive to positively impact our customers, communities and other stakeholders, and protect the environment. When we live this core value, we seek and listen to feedback and focus on understanding the needs of our internal and external customers; actively support development opportunities that support our communities; minimize the impact of our operations on the environment; and help our customers meet their clean energy goals. Stewardship is about tending to the needs of those who rely on and being responsible corporate citizens. This is woven throughout our environmental approach, our customer focus and our support for our communities.

FirstEnergy Foundation invested 32.71% of its 2023 giving to support the missions of over 340 organizations with diverse ownership and missions.

Employees are also engaged with their communities through the Company’s Volunteer Time Off program, which allows participants to designate up to 16 hours annually of paid time off to volunteer with an approved 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.

Climate Strategy and Oversight

Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions

After careful consideration and evaluation, in the first quarter of 2024, we made the decision to remove our interim target to achieve a 30% reduction in Scope 1 GHG emissions by 2030. This was a difficult decision, but one that was necessary because we determined that our ability to achieve that interim goal was not within our control, as discussed below. FirstEnergy’s core business is the transmission and distribution of electricity. However, emissions from our West Virginia regulated generating operations – consisting of two coal plants, Fort Martin and Harrison – represent approximately 99% of our Scope 1 emissions and greatly outnumber the emissions from our transmission and distribution operations. As such, our 2030 interim target was dependent on GHG reductions at Fort Martin and Harrison that could be realized only through a meaningful reduction in operation of these two plants prior to 2030.

Through our evaluation, we identified several challenges to achieving the Scope 1 2030 interim target. In light of these challenges, which are listed below, we believe the most transparent course of action was to remove our 2030 interim target.

We remain committed to reducing Scope 1 emissions to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. While we have determined that we are unable to meaningfully reduce generation-based GHG emissions in West Virginia by 2030, we maintain our long-term commitment to move beyond our two coal-fired generating plants no later than 2050. In the near-term, we will monitor and evaluate emerging technologies or solutions that could reduce GHG emissions from these plants. We also continue our focus on GHG reduction in our transmission and distribution businesses. These emissions are within our control, pervasive in every state across our footprint, and aligned with our long-term, forward-looking transmission and distribution strategy to enable the energy transition.

Importantly, our climate strategy is a key component of our Company strategy. That alignment means efforts to implement and execute our climate strategy also support and advance our Company strategy.

At a high level, our climate strategy consists of two major efforts: reducing GHG emissions and enabling the energy transition to alow-carbon future.

Political and Public Policy Engagement

As a utility obligated to provide reliable and affordable power to customers, FirstEnergy has a legitimate stake in public policy outcomes and a responsibility to advocate for public policy issues that impact the company and its stakeholders. We have continued to reshape our approach to political and public policy engagement, ensuring closer alignment to our strategic goals and core values. This enhanced approach also includes more robust oversight and disclosure of the Company’s advocacy. We engage thoughtfully and responsibly as we advocate for our interests and attempt to effect positive change for the customers and communities we serve. Our Political & Public Engagement Policy guides that principled engagement by providing strong, clear expectations for the Company, its directors, officers, employees and those acting on the Company’s behalf. In addition, in conjunction with the responsibilities of the full Board, the Governance Committee Charter includes robust oversight requirements of the Company’s Political and Lobbying Action Plan.

Physical Security and Cybersecurity

FirstEnergy is committed to protecting its employees, customers, facilities, and the ongoing reliability of its electric system. We work closely with state and federal agencies and our peers in the electric utility industry to identify physical and cybersecurity risks, exchange information, and put safeguards, including training, in place to comply with strict reliability and security standards. From a security standpoint, the electric utility sector is one of the most regulated industries. We have comprehensive cyber and physical security plans in place, but we do not publicly disclose details about these measures that could aid those who want to harm our customers, our employees or our assets.

Your Board has identified cybersecurity as a key enterprise risk and prioritizes the mitigation of this risk. Your Board receives cybersecurity updates at its regularly scheduled meetings. In addition, the Audit and Operations and Safety Oversight Committees to oversee specific components of cybersecurity, respectively. The Operations and Safety Oversight Committee reviews our cybersecurity

risk management practices and performance, primarily through reports provided by management, including the Chief Information Security Officer. The Operations and Safety Oversight Committee also reviews and discusses with management the steps taken to monitor, control, and mitigate such exposure, and oversees audits of the cybersecurity program. Among other things, these reports have focused on incident response management and recent cyber risk and cybersecurity developments. The Audit Committee oversees cybersecurity risks related to its responsibilities, including financial reporting, internal controls and financial disclosures.

Both cyber and physical security enhancements are also a key component of FirstEnergy’s Energize365 the Future transmission investment program. The Company invests heavily in sophisticated and layered security measures that use both technology and physical barriers to protect critical transmission facilities and our digital communications networks.

Unrelenting Customer Focus

We recognize that our more than 6 million utility customers depend on us to provide the reliable energy they need every day of the year. One of the ways we hold ourselves accountable for service reliability is by including metrics – distribution System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) and Transmission Outage Frequency (TOF) – in our KPIs. We also set longer-term goals to drive improvement. We strive to be in the top quartile for Transmission Outage Frequency (TOF) performance of our industry peers. On the distribution side, through our Energize365 plan, we’ll be focused on making our system more reliable and more resilient. This will include targeting a reduction in the frequency of outages (SAIFI), but also in the duration (CAIDI) of outages when they do occur (for an overall improvement to our customer’s experience).

In addition to service reliability, we’re focused on providing a more modern, effortless and consistent customer experience. Our goal is to provide an exceptional customer experience and be our customers’ trusted energy advisor as we enable their transition to affordable clean energy. We continue to use a data-driven approach to help ensure we meet or exceed our customers’ expectations in all interactions with them. As a result, our customers now benefit from enhanced customer service capabilities, self-service options and payment methods.

We also advocate for policies that enable us to grow our Human Service and conservation programs to make energy affordable for our most vulnerable customers. We offer energy efficiency programs to help customers reduce energy use and minimize their carbon footprint, as well as payment assistance and emergency support programs to help customers budget monthly payments, pay winter heating bills, catch up onpast-due payments and avoid service disconnections.

Community Vitality

The FirstEnergy Foundation invests in nonprofit organizations to enable positive, sustainable changes that strengthen the communities we serve. The Foundation’s priorities range from supporting key safety initiatives and promoting workforce and economic development to improving social and cultural aspects of our region. As an overarching priority in line with our companywide focus on DEI, the Foundation also supports organizations and initiatives that serve diverse populations and enhance inclusion.

Our corporate giving strategy also focuses on initiatives that parallel our business interests, while helping our communities and the people who live in them achieve greater success. Whether directed to the United Way or local foodbanks, our corporate contributions and philanthropic outreach support organizations and projects dedicated to improving the environmental, economic, social, educational and cultural aspects of our communities.

We are also committed to supporting employee volunteerism through a robust Employee Volunteer Program and the long-term economic health of the communities we serve through development initiatives that create jobs, support local suppliers and attract new businesses throughout our service area.

EESG Oversight and Management

Board and executive-level oversight of EESG topics, including climate and other governance topics discussed throughout this Proxy Statement, is vital to our commitment to corporate responsibility and our Company’s success. The full Board also provides oversight of risk management practices, reviews material company risks – including those related to EESG – and helps ensure processes are in place to support a strong risk management culture.

Your Board has five standing committees that, through their respective oversight responsibilities, assist in guiding EESG efforts, including with respect to our climate strategy.

In addition, the Audit Committee:

For a breakdown of each committee’s EESG oversight responsibilities, please review the committee charters (www.firstenergycorp.com/charters) and visit the Board Governance page of our Corporate Responsibility website (www.fecorporateresponsibility.com). In addition to these EESG oversight roles and responsibilities, our Corporate Responsibility Department, senior leadership-level Corporate Responsibility Steering Committee, management-level Climate Subcommittee, and Governance Committee of the Board work to ensure the transparency and accountability of FirstEnergy’s EESG efforts and continuously strive to improve our EESG performance across the Company.

At the management level, responsibilities for climate matters are spread across the company. Cross-functional management-level committees – including the Corporate Responsibility Steering Committee, the Climate Subcommittee and the Enterprise Risk Management Committee – are designed to bring relevant leaders together to help FirstEnergy advance climate action in alignment with our corporate strategy, identify and manage climate risks, capitalize on energy transition opportunities, and provide transparency through disclosure efforts. Review our Climate Report (https://firstenergycorp.com/content/dam/investor/files/climate-report.pdf) for more information on these management-level committees.

Climate risks are integrated into our ERM process much like any other enterprise risk. FirstEnergy’s current material risks, including those related to climate, are identified and discussed in our annual and periodic reports. To read more about FirstEnergy’s risk management oversight and the ERM program and process, including the integration of climate risks, please see the Enterprise Risk Management page and our Climate Report.

EESG Accountability and Transparency

FirstEnergy is committed to providing stakeholders with information about our corporate responsibility approach and EESG initiatives and performance. As part of our commitment to transparency and accountability, we have a dedicated Corporate Responsibility website, which details FirstEnergy’s progress on EESG-related topics. Information on our website, including with respect to our corporate responsibility and EESG initiatives and performance, does not constitute part of (and shall not be deemed incorporated by reference into) this proxy statement or any other document we file with the SEC.

Setting goals and disclosing our progress are also critical parts of demonstrating transparency and accountability on EESG matters. Our Company-wide goals, available on our Corporate Responsibility website, are designed to prepare us to meet our customers’ future energy needs and move us closer to our vision for a more resilient, innovative, diverse and sustainable FirstEnergy.

In addition, in 2023, our annual KPIs that make up our Short-Term Incentive Program for employees also have strong ties to EESG. Our KPIs measure performance and improvement in areas that are high priorities for the Company and critical to our continued success. Among others, those areas include customer reliability, customer service, environmental protections, safety and diversity, equity and inclusion. These incentive-based KPIs support our commitment to strong EESG performance.