Climate change mitigation
There is global scientific agreement that as a result of human activity the amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere is increasing and affecting the global climate. Therefore minimising the GHGs emitted as a result of our operations and taking action to remove emissions from the atmosphere will mitigate climate change.
To see how we performed this year, you can view our annual report here.
Our climate change mitigation strategy
Great carbon management is more than just a number and our climate change mitigation strategy is more than just an emissions target. Our mitigation strategy contains four themes that are all vital to transition to a low carbon future:
Ambition and commitment
Our four Science Based Targets:
*1.5°C scenario aligned
**Well below 2°C scenario aligned
An important element of our approach is to demonstrate our ambition and encourage others to contribute by making public commitments. We joined the global movement of 'Business Ambition for 1.5°C: Our Only Future', with a commitment to setting science-based targets aligned with the climate science to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. We are signatories to the UN Race to Zero campaign and are proud to be contributing to the UK water industry’s commitment to be net zero from 2030.
In 2020 we made six carbon pledges as part of our commitment to tackling climate change (see below). Central to these was to set science-based targets for all emission scopes. United Utilities is proud to be the first UK water company to have these targets approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), a collaboration that defines and promotes global best practice in science-based target setting. The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) assessed and verified our four science-based targets in July 2021 and commended our ambitious 1.5°C aligned scope 1 and 2 target.
Vision and visibility
We already have a strong track record of sustainability reporting and disclosure, having measured and reported our GHG emissions for nearly 20 years. Click here to read more about external recognition and benchmarking.
We’re also committed to reporting our impact in the most transparent and robust way possible. Our emissions measurement and reporting is aligned to the GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard (2015) and the recommendations of the Taskforce for Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). We publish our emissions in our annual report as required under the Companies Act 2006 (Strategic Report and Directors’ Reports) Regulations and follow the 2019 UK Government Environmental Reporting Guidelines: Including streamlined energy and carbon reporting guidance.
Since 2007, our greenhouse gas inventory has undergone independent, third-party verification by Achilles Information Limited that our reporting is compliant with the international carbon reporting standard (ISO 14064, Part 1). The reporting is assured by the Reduce Carbon programme, previously known as Certified Emissions Measurement and Reduction Scheme (CEMARS). Our most recent certificate is available here:
Carbon reduce certificate (PDF 247KB opens in new tab)
Independent assurance statement (PDF 221KB opens in new tab)
We are dedicated to understanding how every aspect of our operations contributes to our emissions, and as part of our vision, we are working to ensure we consider the climate in all our operational and strategic decision making.
Demonstrating action
We have demonstrated our capability to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions having reduced them by over 70 per cent since 2005/6 largely from working to balance our energy consumption, self-generation and being smart about how we operate our assets to get best value while maintaining security of supply. In 2021/22 we generated a record 210 GWh of renewable energy from a mix of generation from wind, hydro, solar photovoltaics and energy recovery from bioresources (using sewage sludge to power combined heat and power generators). Between self-generated power and purchased electricity, from October 2021 100 per cent of the electricity we use has been from renewable sources.
We are also working towards meeting our other carbon pledges. We are trialling alternative fuels to replace fossil fuels used in our treatment processes and for transport and have projects underway to restore peatland and plant new woodlands which will have a net GHG emissions reduction. To address our scope 3 targets we are already working with suppliers such as Sapphire Utility Solutions to reduce emissions from their fleet as they carry out maintenance on our network and with Changemaker 3D on making made-to-measure objects out of sustainable concrete on site through 3D printing.
Our Pledges Progress
Pledge 1
42% reduction of scope 1 & 2 emissions from our
2020 baseline by 2030
Our progress: ↓3.6% compared to baseline
We are making good progress towards our pledge and SBT, having made a year-on-year 1.5 per cent reduction from 2021/22.
Progress is not expected to be linear while we have emerging challenges that drive increasing emissions.
2019/20: 138,961 tCO2e Baseline
2022/23: 133,930 tCO2e 3.6% reduction
Pledge 2 ✔
100% of electricity used from renewable sources
We achieved this pledge from October 2021
Since October 2021 all electricity we use is from renewable sources. Around 25 per cent of our needs are renewably generated directly by us or with partners and the remainder is purchased on a renewable tariff backed with REGO certificates. We are working on plans to increase the energy we can self-supply through new investment in renewable capacity and storage
Pledge 3
100% green fleet by 2028
33 fully electric vehicles (EV) now deployed in our fleet with plans for 200 low carbon vehicles by 31 March 2025
We have installed advanced telematics to improve understanding of travel patterns and are trialling options for larger vehicles. We are enabling employees to shift to EV through changes to the company car policies and launch of a salary sacrifice scheme 'EVolve'.
Pledge 4
1,000 hectares of peatland restoration by 2030
585ha restoration activity underway
We have peatland restoration activities across the North West at different stages of maturity including the 2000ha improved through our 2005–15 SCaMP projects.
Pledge 5
Plant one million trees to create 550 hectares of woodland by 2030
37 hectares of woodland planted
Weather and tree disease slowed our planting progress but we have two well established nurseries and plans for more and have identified hundreds of sites for new and ‘replanted’ woodlands.
Pledge 6 ✔
Set a scope 3 science-based target
Targets verified by SBTi July 2021
We have two science-based targets which between them cover all our relevant scope 3 emissions .
- 66 per cent of our construction services suppliers (by emissions) will set their own science-based target by 2025; and
- To reduce absolute emissions for the remainder of scope 3 categories by 25 per cent by 2030, from a 2020 baseline
Beyond here and now
We are not only concerned with things we can do now to reduce our reportable emissions. Our strategic theme of beyond here and now allows us to focus on the challenge to influence emissions regardless of whether those emissions are part of our inventory. For instance, we are investigating what operational interventions we can make to reduce process emissions before this is part of the industry standard methodology to estimate emissions.
We are also looking beyond now into the future as we explore opportunities and innovate across processes, technology, standards and culture. For the past four years we have been running an Innovation Lab, a 12 week programme that provides successful applicants with the opportunity to test their solutions to our business challenges in a live environment. Our Innovation Lab programme is designed to “look for ideas where others aren’t looking” – in other sectors, other countries and with suppliers that are often small, start-up businesses, just starting on their idea development or business growth journey. Click here to find out more about Typhon Treatment Systems, a finalist in our Innovation Lab, and the developer of one of the world’s first ever ultraviolet (UV) LED water treatment technology.