Net zero carbon

We are committed to reducing the impact of our operations and continue to implement more sustainable ways of pumping, treating and distributing millions of litres of water every single day.

Our route to net zero carbon emissions

We are an energy-intensive business abstracting, treating and pumping 160 million litres of water each day to 745,000 customers in parts of Surrey, south London, Kent and West Sussex.

We operate a network of 62 operational assets and 2,000 miles of water mains across 322 square miles. Each million litres of water we supply produces around 55kg of CO₂e and we currently produce around 9.5 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions every day through our day-to-day operations.

Over the last ten years we have cut our operational greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 90% through increasing our use of renewable energy, becoming more energy efficient and reducing our reliance on fossil fuels.

By 2030 we are committed to achieving net zero operational carbon emissions, in-line with the Public Interest Commitment made by all English water companies. Find out more about the industry's commitment here: Water UK - Net Zero 2030 Routemap.

We've developed our own routemap to get us there focused primarily on managing the demand for water and energy. We will:

Become more energy efficient
Reduce demand for water
Generate more energy from renewable sources
Decarbonise our fleet of vehicles
Phase out our use of fossil fuels

We'll work with our employees, supply chain and customers to help us achieve our target and, in the longer term, we'll also take steps to reduce the embodied carbon - carbon produced as we build and develop assets, such as new treatment works and pipelines.

What happens next?

Achieving our net zero carbon ambitions is not something we can do on our own. We need to take our customers, communities and supply chain partners on this journey too because they can influence the carbon emissions produced by supplying water.

This is the approach we will follow to implement our net zero routemap:

Involve customers and employees

Consider carbon reduction in our short-term decision making

Develop our longer-term plans with carbon reduction at the heart of our sustainable approach

Measure and report on our progress annually

We have an online community of over 300 customers who all want to 'Talk on Water'. We'd love you to join them and tell us what's important to you about your water supply. There are monthly prize draws for participants, including Amazon vouchers. Register here to join the community. We also welcome your comments and views on our carbon route so please do contact us at communications@seswater.co.uk.