Our interim target
Last year we reported how we faced significant challenges to deliver our interim target of net zero operational emissions by 2030 without the use of external offsets. This year we completed a review of our interim target, and the Board approved a revised commitment to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 35% by 2030, compared to 2022–23 emissions.
This interim target accounts for our forecast that emissions will rise by nearly 10% during our business plan period 2025–30. This increase is due to the impact of population growth – we will serve more customers and operational emissions will rise – and our planned investments in assets, including actions in our Water Resources Management Plan and Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP).
Our interim target to reduce emissions relies heavily on projected UK grid decarbonisation and delivery of interventions, including:
- transitioning from natural gas to more carbon efficient electric heat pumps for office heating
- moving our fleet from combustion vehicles to low or zero emission vehicles
- investment required at our sewage sludge anaerobic digestion (AD) facilities to support compliance with the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED).
We continue to explore opportunities that deliver additional emission reductions above this target, including efficiency actions, plant replacement and optimisation.
