Severn Trent has said it expects carbon emissions to increase in the short term, owing to population growth and the need to increase water and waste water quality standards, which currently means increased use of chemicals.

The acknowledgement comes in the water company’s newly-published Sustainability Report 2023 – Severn Trent adds in its commentary:

“We will realise reductions again through ongoing improvements and industry-leading innovation.”

The report says the company is planning for, and building net zero into its AMP8 business plans for the upcoming 2025-2030 regulatory cycle.

Commenting on Severn Trent’s energy use, the report says energy became an even more important focus for the firm this year as prices rose to record levels. During the year Severn Trent has invested an additional £4.3 million in energy efficiency schemes and has invested a total of £36 million over the last eight years. This includes proactive maintenance of energy-intensive assets, such as pumps and air blowers, and investment in improved controls and monitoring to reduce energy use.

Key achievements set out in the report include:

Get River Positive river pledges

The report says the firm has made significant progress in reducing the average annual number of storm overflow activations from 25 in 2021 to 18 in 2022 and reducing Reasons for Not Achieving Good Status (‘RNAGs’), while recruiting an independent panel of experts to oversee progress.

Net Zero

This is the second year Severn Trent is reporting process emissions based on its own measured data rather than a broad emissions factor estimate. The company has designed and invested in the world’s first net zero waste water treatment hub, which will be completed by 2024, supported by the largest single investment from Ofwat’s Innovation Fund of £10 million. Once complete, this will set the footprint for Severn Trent to deploy technologies at scale

Customer affordability

In May 2022 Severn Trent announced a package of financial support worth £30 million to help customers most in need, taking the total number of customers the company support with their bills to 315,000. The utility launched its longer-term Societal Strategy this year with the ambition to help 100,000 people out of water poverty by 2032.

Enhancing Nature

In 2020, Severn Trent set an ambition to improve 5,000 hectares of land by 2027 – the company has exceeded its original ambition four years early, by delivering 7,727 hectares of biodiversity improvement and planting 694,144 trees since 2020. In the process, the firm created 72 tiny forests in urban areas of its region as part of a partnership with the Commonwealth Games. Severn Trent has now committed to doubling its target to 10,000 hectares by 2025.

Building a sustainable supply chain

Severn Trent says it aims to influence supply chain partners and help them build capability by improving sustainable procurement practices. The company is also clarifying its requirements regarding supplier commitments to carbon and climate change, circular economy, labour rights and worker welfare. Severn Trent incorporates standard contract clauses for all new suppliers with the requirement to report on emissions, set and deliver against a SBT and standard supplier selection questions.

Referring to waste and the circular economy, the report says Severn Trent will continue exploring ways to reduce the level of waste created by its operations through construction, maintenance activities, energy use, hardware and asset replacement cycles. The company says it is thinking differently about the solutions it asks its supply chain to deliver and who it chooses to work with in the future

Energy and carbon

Severn Trent is working to gather accurate data on emissions generated by its capital construction supply chain, and to embed suppliers’ use of its carbon calculation tools and processes. It is also investing more in improving the energy efficiency of assets, stepping up an operational focus on energy use, using energy more flexibly and promoting behavioural change to reduce wasted energy.

The water company’s design teams are expected to consider the total carbon impact of all projects, including materials and construction processes, across their operational lifetime. The aim is to reduce total carbon emissions (embedded and operational) by 15% during the initial design process and a further 15% through later stages of multi-stage design process. Alternative materials and process design choices are evaluated to aid the designs of assets to include low-carbon materials and the utility is continuing to trial new technologies.

Severn Trent has a Sustainability Framework in place which seeks to draw together its environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. The Sustainability Framework is reported on a quarterly basis to the Corporate Sustainability Committee, in its Annual Report and Accounts, on its website and through selected ESG indices.

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