Utility group puts the spotlight on its energy use and aims for a 26% cut in carbon emissions

May 21 2008 by Aaron Boland, Liverpool Daily Post

AN EXAMPLE of a local company that is taking steps to improve its impact on the environment is one of the region’s biggest energy and water groups.

Warrington-based United Utilities is a company that is regularly put under the spotlight for its environmental performance.

It is a major consumer of energy, and used 0.3% of the UK’s supply of electricity in 2006/07.

In the same period, the company produced the equivalent of 470,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, while operations managed but not owned by the company contributed a further 1.57m tonnes.

Its climate change action plan, developed after working with the Carbon Trust, demands an investment of £37m.

Philip Green, chief executive of United Utilities, is committed to an improvement in the company’s performance: “We are well aware that our operations are inextricably linked to the welfare of our customers and the communities we serve,” he said.

“We are the first UK water company to set out an action plan to reduce our carbon emissions.

“We are targeting a gross reduction in carbon emissions of around 26% within the next three to five years. We expect 8% to come from the increased use of sewage-gas to power our wastewater treatment works, and around 18% to come from renewable energy supply contracts.”

The reduction has a deadline of 2012, and the company aims to halve the current level of its emissions by 2035.

Last year, United Utilities saved an additional 42,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide after buying cleaner electricity.