SES sets out demand-led carbon ambitions

SES Water has laid out plans to move all customers to smart meters and reduce abstraction by a quarter as part of its demand-led route to net zero by 2030.

The company published a routemap to drive down its current 2,411 tonnes of emissions to net zero, which includes moving 25 per cent of billpayers to a smart meter by 2025 and all customers by the end of the decade.

SES will reduce annual abstraction by 10 per cent during AMP7 (2020/25), and by 25 per cent by the end of AMP8 (2025/30) while promoting water efficiency and reducing leakage.

Chief executive Ian Cain explained the routemap was based on the demand-led pathway developed by the industry.

“Our routemap will focus on managing demand for water so that we need and use less of it and, in turn, emit less carbon,” he said. “We believe that is the most collaborative way to work with our customers and local communities and deliver net zero carbon emissions by 2030 – some 20 years before the economy is expected to as a whole.”

The company aims to reduce its emissions by 72 per cent and offset the remainder.

Among plans to ramp up its use of renewables the company will more than double its on-site electricity generation through renewables to meet 20 per cent of energy demand.

SES plans to switch all vehicles to electric and cut company mileage by half this decade to target an overall carbon reduction of 39 per cent.

Over the past ten years the water only company has lowered its carbon footprint 89 per cent by changing its sourcing and use of energy. This included lowering demand through water efficiency and leakage reduction as well as investing in efficient pumps and renewable energy generation on its sites.

Meanwhile, both SES and Wessex Water have joined the United Nations Race to Zero campaign to halve global emissions by 2030.

“We’re proud to be the first UK water-only company to make this commitment, demonstrating that our smaller size has no impact on the level of our environmental ambitions,” Cain said of joining the Race to Zero.

“We will be working hard – with our employees, customers and suppliers – to deliver what is in our route map and play our part in not only protecting the environment but improving it for the benefit of everybody.”

Water UK is an official partner to the scheme that brings together companies, cities, regions, financial and educational institutions to take immediate action on greenhouse gasses.

Wessex chief executive Colin Skellett added: “It is critical that we focus our efforts on ways to neutralise our carbon footprint and are committed to achieving net zero operational carbon emissions by 2030. However, we must decarbonise all aspects of our work, and will work to achieve net zero total emissions by 2040 at the latest.”

Wessex’s own plan to net zero stressed the need for novel investment, collaboration and innovation to find new ways of working and emerging technologies.