Ricardo and Mott MacDonald to lead net zero carbon planning for water

Water UK and research specialist UKWIR have engaged Ricardo and Mott MacDonald to lead on producing a plan to deliver the water sector’s net zero carbon by 2030 Public Interest Commitment goal.

The industry has pledged to publish a comprehensive action plan by March 2020, followed by a detailed report in Summer. Progress on the goal will be independently assessed each year, with key milestones reported publicly. Individual companies will use the action plan to inform their own detailed approaches to meeting net zero across the industry by 2030. The industry also intends to share its learnings to help other major energy-using industries to deliver their own plans.

Peter Simpson, chief executive of Anglian Water and one of the sponsors of the net zero project on behalf of the sector, said: “This vital project will help us find the technologies and processes we will need to help us become carbon zero. We’ve made great strides in recent years reducing both operational and embedded carbon, but we don’t have all the answers. So, bringing in outside expertise to help us reach this target is essential.”

Water is the UK’s fourth most energy intensive industry, directly contributing around 5 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions each year.