As part of our Countdown to COP series, Utility Week speaks to Gordon Rogers, head of long term strategy, environment, planning and innovation at United Utilities. He discusses his company’s decarbonisation commitments as well as the wider need for action to adapt to a climate that is already changing.

COP26

What do you want hear from the conference?

Essential public water and drainage services are fundamentally impacted by the weather and we are already feeling the impact of climate change. We’d like to hear three things in particular for the water industry:

• The continued escalation of the importance of carbon reduction and climate resilience.
• A national plan for the UK to achieve its carbon budgets and the other requirements of the Climate Change Act, with clarity over policy and incentives that help the water sector (and others) to cut emissions, transition to renewable and low emission energy sources and unlock other resource efficiencies.
• Greater focus on climate change adaptation so that public and private sectors, as well as individuals, are taking action to adapt to a climate that is already changing. Many of these measures can be captured within a national biodiversity plan for the UK, recognising the interdependencies and synergistic opportunities across nature recovery, carbon reduction and climate resilience. For example the importance of managing surface water and soils for multiple benefits, peatland protection and restoration.

What should the legacy of COP26 be?

We think it’s imperative that we start to see more action.  Further national commitments from other countries are needed to help global targets of keeping global warming at 1.5C. We also believe that climate adaptation needs to be addressed with as much urgency as mitigation measures.

Is your company actively participating in COP26?

Water UK will be leading the sector activity in Glasgow itself and we will be supporting their efforts. We are an active participant as a member of the UN Race to Zero. We have sponsored research with Business in the Community to consider how the transition to a low carbon and adapted economy can be done in an inclusive and just way.

We will be continuing our local engagement and work for carbon reduction and climate resilience in the North West and working with our supply chain partners to build awareness of climate change mitigation responsibilities and exploring how we can further collaborate to reduce our emissions.

Has the UK done enough this year to position itself as a world leader on climate change?

We welcome the continued focus and commitment from the UK government and would encourage more action on a national carbon plan, policy and incentives.

Walking the talk

When and how is your company planning to get to net zero?

In 2020 we made six carbon pledges – covering emission targets and action on energy, transport, and emission removals schemes such as creating woodland and peatland restoration – as part of our commitment to tackling climate change.

Central to these was to set science-based targets for all emission scopes. United Utilities is proud that these targets have been approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and that we were the first UK water company to have done so.

Our scope 1 and 2 emissions target is to reduce emissions by 42% from our 2019/20 baseline by 2030 and to further reduce this towards net zero by 2050.

We have set a scope 3 target that 66 per cent of suppliers within scope 3 capital goods will have science-based targets by 2025. For all other scope 3 categories, we will work with our supply chain to achieve a 25 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030 from a 2020 base year.  We have also joined the global movement of ‘Business Ambition for 1.5°C: Our Only Future’, 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.

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 2020/21 we generated the equivalent of 205 GWh of renewable electricity from a mix of generation from wind, hydro, solar photovoltaics and energy recovery from bio resources (using sewage sludge to power combined heat and power generators). From October 2021, 100 per cent of the electricity we use will be from renewable technologies from either self-generated power or certified green electricity purchase.

We are also working towards meeting our other carbon pledges by;

• trialling alternatives to fossil fuels used in our treatment processes and for transport,
• restoring 1000 hectares of peatland and planting one million trees to create 550 hectares of woodland, which will have a net GHG emission reduction,
• working with suppliers such as Sapphire Utility Solutions to reduce emissions from their fleet as they carry our maintenance on our network,
• innovating with Changemaker 3D on making made-to-measure objects out of sustainable concrete alternatives on site through 3D printing, and
• encouraging our employees to understand more and do more to limit their impact through online employee carbon training.

To what extent should utilities look to offset emissions as opposed to focusing on achieving zero carbon?

We support the emissions reductions hierarchy set out in the Water UK Net Zero 2030 route map where emission reductions and use of renewables are a higher priority than offsets. Offsets will be required to address the residual emissions in water companies’ footprints.

Offsets in the form of legitimate and quantified emissions removals will be essential to operate in a net zero state and we recognize the need for there to be a more recognised domestic carbon unit schemes in the UK.

As a large land owning water company we are actively pursuing opportunities for securing long term carbon storage through high quality, locally based land management changes. This complements and expands on our long history of leadership, innovation and partnership in catchment scale peatland restoration and woodland creation for multiple benefits in water quality, air quality and flood storage, as well as demonstrable carbon benefits.

Customers and the community

What role do you think utilities have in helping to accelerate the climate plans of local authorities?

Utilities and other large companies, especially when regionally based like water companies, are essential to the success of local authorities’ climate change and resilience planning.

We work closely with local authorities, charities, regional organizations and community groups across the North West on climate change and many other topics of mutual interest.

One area of focus for us with local authorities is supporting place based planning on climate change mitigation and adaptation. We are members of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority Green City Partnerships and the Liverpool City Region Mayor’s Office’s Climate Change Partnership. Through the planning system, local authorities have a critical role to play in the uptake of sustainable drainage solutions to help better manage ever increasing volumes of surface water.

An example of where we have contributed to acceleration of local plans is in sharing our experience and best practice on strategy development GHG emission accounting with parties such as the Environment Agency, St Helen’s college, Sellafield and the Lake District National Park Authority.

What role can utilities play in helping to engage customers on the path to net zero?

Many of our customers, especially younger ones, are already engaged with climate change and its causes and potential consequences.

For many years we have provided customers with information and water saving devices to help them to save water, save money and protect the valuable habitats of the North West.

Engaging with customers also has benefits for potential investment. For instance, using water wisely will reduce the development and maintenance required to meet water demand and responsible use of the sewers will limit the unnecessary costs and emissions associated with repairs of blockages and sewer flooding. This can be seen as similar to the success of home based recycling schemes enabling local authorities to reduce waste going to landfill and to develop opportunities in the circular economy.

There is an obvious connection for different utility providers where customers use water with energy and chemicals for cooking, heating, washing etc meaning there is significant potential for behaviour and technology changes that will save water, energy and money while cutting carbon. As programmes develop to retrofit homes with energy efficiency measures, this should also include water efficiency, especially as around 20% of an average energy bill is used to heat water.

There is also a role for utility companies to engage with customers about the local environmental impact of providing services to them aside from directly what they experience in the home and build awareness that their behaviour has a part to play in limiting these consequences.

Policy & regulation

What is your principle ask of government and regulators to help your company contribute to the net-zero push?

We would like government to set out national policies and incentives to help us maximise our cost effective, technically feasible contributions. For example to promote investment in more renewables and energy efficiency, and also to develop legitimate and quantified emissions removal schemes.

We would like regulators to continue to embed and further accelerate the collaborative efforts to evolve the regulatory framework to ensure it is fit for the future. For example by prioritising the value of carbon throughout the regulatory decision making processes such as the price review and national environment plan.

This interview is part of the Countdown to COP series. To read more click here.