Water UK: Decarbonisation route map getting global attention at COP26

As the first week of the COP26 draws to a close, Utility Week catches up with Water UK’s director of programmes and planning Sam Larsen who says the sector's decarbonisation route map is getting global attention at the climate change summit in Glasgow.

The water sector was the first industry in the UK to set a 2030 net zero target and publish a comprehensive route map to get there. Larsen says other countries are catching up and the route map has gained a lot of attention this week.

“What really struck me was how other sectors are familiar with the content in our route map,” says Larsen, describing how representatives from several international companies had separately approached him quoting parts of the route map.

“They had digested it and knew what we were looking for, what the targets were and wanted to talk about how we can work together to achieve it,” he adds.

“A lot of water companies around the world have been asking about the process of compiling a route map. Some are at the stage of talking to their board about forming a net zero commitment – because very few companies around the world have even go that far – so they want to engage with their boards about developing a route map.”

He says there has been interest in how the sector jointly developed the route map, the processes used and how it was integrated with other industries that has put the UK streets ahead of others.

“We had the blessing of over a decade’s worth of data thanks to Ofwat putting in place a system to measure water company emissions more than 10 years ago, which has quietly been ticking away gathering data. It blows peoples’ minds around the world that we have that resource!”

As other sectors work through the process of developing their own decarbonisation strategies, Water UK is reaching out to other sectors to ensure water is not overlooked in their own plans.

Since the route map was launched 12 months ago, Larsen says work on process emissions has sped up with some UK wastewater companies directly monitoring emissions from treatment plants as well as conversations taking place with sectors overseas for sharing best practices.

Announced this week was an international call for prioritising work on these emissions through finance and innovation.

Larsen says although not all the answers are available yet, through sharing best practice there are optimisations to processes within wastewater treatment that will help. These could relate to aeration, how pumps and mixers are used to save energy and carbon through some of the direct emissions.

“There are optimisations that could be delivered relatively quickly but that’s not going to take emissions down to zero. It could take a critical bite out of emissions and this decade those early actions are some of the most important. If we act quickly, we’ll get years of benefits before 2030.”

Removing emissions entirely will be harder and may require technology swaps, Larsen explains, which raises the question of how to retrofit technology into an existing operational works. “I tell people to imagine it as a railway station that needs a new roof but the trains must keep running – whatever we do the treatment plants need to keep running.”

The government published its Net Zero Strategy in October that was the first inclusion of these kinds of emissions with government calling for faster progress specifically in this area.

One project that could have accelerated efforts to monitor and understand emissions was a bid to install monitoring at 40 sewage plants to gather data. The plan, submitted by Severn Trent and involving most of the wastewater companies, was not approved for funding through the Ofwat innovation fund. Larsen believes such a project remains essential to make progress on emissions from the 6,000 sewage works in the UK.

Looking ahead, Water UK believes continued engagement with other sectors will be essential.

“The key is finding the most efficient path to net zero for society as a whole. There is almost no point in individual sectors coming up with individual plans that don’t align or that create problems further down the line,” Larsen says.

“We need to find the optimal plan and then do it.”