Northumbrian Water has cut its carbon emissions by more than 90% from its 2008 baseline as it moves towards its goal of achieving net zero by 2027.
The company said its multi-strand approach, combining green energy and innovative carbon cutting practices, helped cut emissions to 22,000 tonnes in 2021, from 303,000 in 2008. This represents halving the total emissions for 2020, which stood at 56,000 tonnes.
This is the company’s first annual update on its progress since being approved for the United Nation’s Race to Zero campaign last year.
To reach this point, the company has been creating sludge from all its sewage, which is converted to energy by injecting it into the gas grid. All Northumbrian’s sites are powered by renewable energy, which saves 77,000 tonnes of carbon each year. It scaled up investment in solar generation during 2022 to add a 1.9MW array at a water treatment works and has plans to install 18MW of capacity across four further sites this year.
The water sector in England and Wales pledged to reach net zero by 2030 as part of a public interest commitment, which Northumbrian chief executive Heidi Mottram was a champion of. The company went further last year by announcing it wanted to achieve the goal by 2027 as well as driving down avoidable waste by 2025.
Mottram said: “Over the past 14 years, we at Northumbrian Water have made huge strides towards Net Zero.
“We have gone from 303,000 tonnes of carbon to just 22,000, and we are on track for our ambitious goal to reach Net Zero in 2027, and I am proud of the hard work and innovation that has helped us to make such amazing reductions.
“Additionally, it’s great to be able to use our sites and some truly innovative technology to deliver such high volumes of green energy generation. Two of the things we have in abundance at Northumbrian Water are assets and innovative spirit, and when harnessed and combined with our passion for the environment, this has delivered truly powerful results.”
Northumbrian’s ambition at present covers Scope one and two emissions, but not process emissions. Projects are underway to improve monitoring of methane and nitrous oxide from wastewater treatment and find feasible, affordable alternatives to current processing methods.