Positive actions for a sustainable future
We've recently published our first Annual Environmental Report, showing the strong progress we are making towards the delivery of our environmental and sustainability commitments. Our Sustainability Specialist, Chris Plester, shares his thoughts on some of our key achievements below.
Now more than ever our actions matter.
We are facing challenging times, with gas shortages and rising energy costs caused by the current unrest in Eastern Europe. For the first time on record, temperatures in the UK exceeded 40°C this summer, and we are already witnessing the dangers of climate change and the startling decline of the natural environment. Against this backdrop, we have seen the world’s low carbon ambitions gather momentum, alongside an increasing focus on understanding and valuing our impacts and dependencies on the natural world.
Ambitions, targets and commitments are important, but delivering on these plans and driving change is crucial. A year ago, we at National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET) published our Environmental Action Plan, setting firm targets for the 2021-2026 five-year period.
Our recently published Annual Environmental Report sets out how we are taking bold action, driven by science, to deliver on these plans for a low-carbon, more sustainable world that will unlock benefits for the whole of society.
Our AER provides an overview of our performance against key metrics and our ongoing progress to deliver our RIIO-T2 Environmental Action Plan commitments.
Our performance
In 2021-2022 we delivered strong environmental performance. To give some examples of what we achieved in FY22, we:
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reduced our controllable business carbon footprint by 16.4% from a 2018/19 baseline
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achieved zero waste to landfill across our construction projects
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enhanced the environmental value of our non-operational land by 1.4% and committed to 10% net gain or greater across 10 construction projects
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were a Principal Partner of COP26 which was hosted in the UK in November 2021.
Our work focused on delivering in the areas that, for NGET, are more mature, while defining our newer aims and building our understanding of what resources and methodologies we will need to deliver on these.
Our Annual Environmental Report gives you – our customers, employees, shareholders, and other stakeholders – a transparent view of our sustainability performance and progress. We invite you to read it and to ask us questions about it.
As we navigate the difficult times ahead, we will continue to work hard to deliver on our environmental commitments. We know we cannot achieve this in isolation, and we owe many thanks to our stakeholders who have supported, challenged and worked with us to achieve our first year of objectives. We look forward to continuing to work together towards a greener future.
On Friday 14 October, we’re hosting a webinar to share some of the highlights and challenges from the report, plus hear your feedback.
