Sustainability
Climate Change
Climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing the world today.
Reports in the media about extreme weather conditions across the world are becoming more and more frequent.
Only recently, in summer 2019, we have seen temperatures reach record highs here in the UK, including the hottest day since records began.
We can see the effects it’s having. That’s why we must act now.
Key challenges presented by Climate Change
Climate change poses a very real threat to our environment, our business, and the people we serve.
We must rise to meet two major and immediate challenges:
- Reduce our carbon emissions
- Adapt to climate change
We must reduce our carbon footprint to help combat climate change.
We believe it is essential that we take bold steps to reduce our impact on the environment.
We have committed to a triple pledge that by 2030 we will achieve net zero carbon emissions, that 100% of our energy will come from renewable sources and we will have 100% electric vehicles, availability of vehicles permitting.
We need to adapt and take action so our business can cope with future weather. We do this by assessing the risks and increasing our resilience and flexibility to protect our services, with water resource management one of our biggest challenges.
Climate change risk
Climate change is a priority risk for us and acts as a contributor to other principle risks, as everything we do is impacted by weather. We work to calculate, mitigate and eliminate climate change risks through our Enterprise Risk Management process.
The impact of the weather on our business
Everything we do is impacted by the weather.
Temperature and rainfall impact the quality and quantity of water we can abstract from rivers, lakes and other sources.
The performance of our assets, such as pipes, are threatened by extreme weather, with high and low temperatures able to cause damage to infrastructure, and heavy rainfall overburdening our sewers.
Demand for water rises significantly during hot weather.
The key risks highlighted in our last adaption report are:
Failure to meet demand due to hotter, drier summers
Exceeding sewer capacity due to heavy and increased rainfall
Reduction in volume of water we can draw from lakes and rivers
Decrease in raw water quality. Purification becomes more difficult
All of these result in a poorer customer experience. Our annual report details the risk climate change poses and how we will manage climate risks.
Accountability and Governance
The Board has overall responsibility for our approach to climate change, and meets 7 times a year to review strategic matters. Climate change is discussed as a key environmental topic.
The board regularly reviews carbon performance metrics as it is an outcome delivery incentive, reported to our regulator, OFWAT.
Carbon is monitored at the group level as a sustainability metric, and is reviewed at each Corporate Sustainability Commitee meeting.
Climate change risks are assessed by the Corporate Sustainability Commitee Committee and reported into the board.
We have an Energy Steering Group who meet quarterly and is chaired by our Chief Executive Officer.
Both mitigation and adaptation climate-related issues are integrated into the performance objectives and business plans for the Energy and Environment teams, steered by our Head of Environment and our dedicated climate change lead.
Investing in our future
If you want to help us continue our work reducing carbon emissions and building a brighter future for our region, there are many ways you can invest in Severn Trent and the work we do.
How we’re reducing our carbon emissions
We’ve been reducing our carbon emissions year-on-year over the last decade, but we need to do more.
Our triple pledge
In 2019 we set a clear and bold ambition, which we have named our Triple Pledge.
By 2030 we will reach:
Net zero carbon emissions across the business
100% of our power from renewable sources
100% electric vehicles, availability of vehicles permits
Our climate achievements so far
Reduced emissions
Carbon Trust Standard
100% renewable energy
In 2018, we won Energy and Carbon Initiative of the year at the Water Industry Achievement awards for our energy demand management work to deliver over 20 Mega Watts of energy flexibility, balancing supply and demand on the National Grid.
Our carbon footprint explained
Our triple pledge relates to our operational carbon emissions and focusses on direct and indirect emissions we produce. These are categorised as scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.
We currently report all of our scope 1 and 2 emissions, and estimate a proportion of our scope 3 emissions. We are working to improve our data capture for scope 3 emissions, which include emissions from our supply chain companies who do work for us
Scope 1 emissions
Scope 2 emissions
Scope 3 emissions
The sources of our carbon emissions
Electricity use represents for 64% of our carbon emissions.
Process emissions accounts for 21%, chemical use is responsible for 10% and transport 5%.
We are investing in innovative projects that aim to reduce our emissions from all sources.
What we’re doing to reduce our carbon emissions
Our PR19 Business Plan, covering 2020 to 2025, sets out how we will continue to cut our carbon emissions
We take a range of actions to reduce our energy consumption. We regularly monitor site energy performance, challenging current practice and identifying energy saving opportunities.
We’re delivering energy efficiency improvement work on all assets across the wholesale business. This includes:
- Improving heating and lighting assets and controls
- Replacing or refurbishing inefficient pumps and other infrastructure
- Refurbishing office sites as part of our workplace improvement programme, to create more efficient, resilient and comfortable places to work
- Improving treatment processes on clean and waste water sites
- Researching and developing newer, more efficient technologies.
We also encourage our teams to support and take responsibility for reducing our energy consumption at work. Our monthly Kill-a-Watt league recognises people who achieve the best energy saving measures each month.
We engage with customers on water efficiency and sewer misuse, to reduce the amount of water and waste water we need to treat.
Across 2020/21, we self-generated the equivalent of 53% of Severn Trent Water's electricity needs.
We are able to generate green energy using the following methods:
- Solar panels
- Sewage sludge
- Anaerobic digesters
- Hydro turbines
- Wind turbines
- Food waste
We're currently researching, investigating and working on new projects to use a variety of renewable technologies, such as converting food waste into green energy.
Our commitment will roll out gradually to all our vehicles:
- Cars: from now on, we will purchase only electric cars, reaching 100% in use by 2026 in line with our fleet replacement programme.
- Vans: in 2020 we will start purchasing small electric vans for shorter trips. We expect suitable larger models to become available in the next few years, and plan to be buying only electric vans from 2023 onwards. We’ll also explore how we can weight our fleet toward smaller vans – for example, by carrying less kit – to speed up this process.
- HGVs and tankers: based on today’s outlook, electric options may not be available by 2030, so we are working with electric vehicle suppliers to speed up this process. We are also exploring alternative low-carbon options such as hydrogen and biogas – fuels that we may be able to produce from our own operations.
To support our commitment to 100% electric vehicles, we are installing over 300 charge points across 65 sites over the next 18 months.
Greenhouse gases such as methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide are released through the biological treatment of sewage and biosolids.
We are running and involved in projects to better understand and quantify these emissions so we can focus activity to reduce them.
Our approach to reporting is based on the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard and we have included only emissions from the assets which we own and operate and which we can directly influence and reduce, known as the financial control boundary.
| 2013/14 | 2014/15 | 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emissions for combustion of fuel and operation of facilities (Scope1) | 132,535 | 132,406 | 134,584 | 138,131 | 134,307 | 132,360 | 156,014 | 164,115 |
| Emissions from electrcity purchased for own use (Scope 2) | 330,679 | 357,756 | 337,028 | 294,426 | 279,393 | 217,726 | 199,635 | 182,768 |
| Total Annual Gross Operational Emissions | 463,214 | 490,163 | 471,612 | 432,557 | 413,700 | 350,086 | 355,649 | 346,883 |
| Emissions benefit of the renewable energy we export (including biomethane exported for which we hold green gas certificates) | 21,672 | 38,878 | 45,085 | 42,069 | 45,333 | 46,986 | 59,878 | 62,003 |
| Emissions reduction from purchase of renewable energy (market based carbon accounting benefits) | - | - | - | - | - | 34,818 | 35,784 | 182,768 |
| Total Annual Net Operational Emissions | 441,542 | 451,285 | 426,527 | 390,488 | 368,367 | 268,283 | 259,987 | 102,113 |
Historic Carbon Emmision data, full carbon reporting is available in our annual sustainability report.
- Greenhouse gas emissions data 2014-15
- Greenhouse gas emissions data 2013-2014
- Greenhouse gas emissions data 2012-13
- Greenhouse gas emissions data 2011-12
- Greenhouse gas emission data for 2010-2011
- Greenhouse gas emissions data 2009-2010
- Greenhouse gas emissions data 2008-2009
- Greenhouse gas emissions data 2002-2011
We have held the Carbon Trust Standard for 10 years and support the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures. We’re committed to ensuring our climate change disclosures align with their recommendations. We are updating our Climate Change adaptation report in 2021. We work with the Carbon Disclosure Project to monitor our emissions and integrate climate change into our business strategy.
Adapting to climate change
As a water company we are acutely aware of the day-to-day impact that weather can have on our business.
As well as being able to cope with the weather today, it is vital that we look to the future to understand the action we need to take to prepare for climate change. Our biggest challenge is ensuring water resources for years to come.
To make sure we adapt to climate change, we must have the right mindset and behaviours in place to understand the issues, plan and implement action.
We need to systematically take action to reduce the impact of our high priority climate change risks.
We will actively seek wider opportunities to transform how and what we do.
Our 2021 Climate Change Adaptation Report
Severn Trent Water’s third Climate Change Adaptation Report, produced as a response to the invitation from Defra to report under the Adaptation Reporting Power as set out in the Climate Change Act 2008.
Together with reports across a range of sectors, it helps the UK government to understand the level of risk that society is exposed to nationally and inform the level of response being taken to manage these risks.
It also provides visibility to our stakeholders of theactions we are taking to understand our risks and the steps we are taking to be resilient to a changing climate.
Investing in our future
If you want to help us continue our work reducing carbon emissions and building a brighter future for our region, there are many ways you can invest in Severn Trent and the work we do.
