What COP 26 means to Welsh Water

Tony Harrington, Director of Environment

The Glasgow climate talks, which have just begun, will seek new commitments to cut methane emissions, dump coal power and finalise rules on global emissions trading to call out just some of the environmentally, societally and economically important changes we could see.

In all, around 30,000 formal delegates and official negotiators are expected to attend COP26, making it the largest event the UK has hosted since the 2012 London Olympics.   There will undoubtedly be major decarbonisation announcements from businesses around the world, commitments by the finance industry not to fund fossil fuel extraction, and further donations for nature protection from the ultra-rich, as seen on the fringe of the UN General Assembly a few weeks ago.  So, what highlights do we think will come up at COP26?

1. 5°C global temperature rise. Even for those in the hydrocarbon industry, or the petrol heads amongst us, we are all hoping that the combined pledges made to reduce emissions ahead of and during the conference will be enough to fend off the worst ravages of climate change.   The Glasgow talks are critical as, under the Paris Agreement, every country signatory should update their emissions reduction targets every five years.   The UK is calling on all countries to align their commitments with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C warming goal and take concerted and specific action now to ensure their delivery.  
2. Methane emissions. At the forum, we anticipate that our Prime Minister will agree to sign up to the Global Methane Pledge, a promise to slash emissions of the potent greenhouse gas by 30% by the end of the decade. A statement from the European Commission said that reducing its release is “the single most effective strategy” to mitigate climate change. Delivering it globally should reduce global warming by around 0.2°C.  
3. Finalising the ‘Paris Rulebook’. The Paris Rulebook is a term that embraces all the aspects of the Paris Agreement beyond its headline climate target. This includes how countries account for emissions, trade emissions and the different expectations from rich and poor states.   Much of these have been signed off already, though there are some critical outstanding elements.
4. Coal Power. A combination of growing diplomatic pressure and the tumbling cost of renewables is making continued reliance on coal power – and especially building new power stations – an expensive bet.  We may see further commitments to simply stop using coal for power generation purposes.
5. Phasing out petrol and diesel cars. The COP26 presidency wants the world to phase out the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2035, five years ahead of the UK. It is one aspect of the government’s mantra for the climate talks: “coal, cars, cash and trees”, but let’s see if we bring forward the UK dates….
6. Biodiversity action is climate action. Curtailing deforestation and promoting ecological recovery is one of the central objectives of the UK’s COP26 presidency.   Aligned with the goals of the forthcoming UN biodiversity talks in Kunming, China, there will be further calls to protecting and restoring ecosystems.
7. Further pressure to end fossil fuel projects. The government has called in the Cumbrian coal mine project and the Cambo oil field in the North Sea remains on the table. If either of them do go ahead, there will no doubt be diplomatic blowback: supporting further fossil fuel extraction while promoting emissions reduction is likely to be dismissed as hypocritical.
8. Scrutiny from civil society. Thousands of campaigners from around the world are expected to participate in COP26, heaping further pressure on the presidency team for success and for real tangible action now, not further target setting irrespective of how ambitious these are.

While the big worldwide decisions will get made at COP 26, we know that we have a key role in the Team Wales effort to tackle the climate emergency which is why we at Welsh Water are taking bold action.

In March 2021, the Glas Board approved the carbon reduction targets for Welsh Water and the associated roadmap to achieve these targets.  The approved “Journey to Net Zero” strategy, aims to achieve a reduction in our total carbon footprint (operational and embedded carbon) of 90% by 2030, compared to 2010-2011 estimated baseline of ~335kton (+/-15kton) and aiming for carbon neutrality (or better) by 2040.

Our route map builds on the extensive investments in renewable generation in the last 10 years, combined with investment to improve energy efficiency, which is delivering a current level of 25% self-sufficiency. The AMP7 investment program is aiming to further improve the energy self-sufficiency to 35% by 2025. Our long-term target is 100% self-sufficiency by 2050.

The “Journey to Net Zero” strategy sets a net total emission level of 30-35kt by 2030, based on our current level of reported fugitive (from the sewage treatment process) emissions. The latter is above and beyond the level of ambition needed to curb global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees, which requires organisations to reduce their emissions by at least 4.2% per annum between 2020-2030, which for us would result in a target equivalent to 70-75kt by 2030.

We’re part of what has always been an energy intensive industry, and we face significant challenges in decarbonising. One of the more challenging areas that we’re still learning about is the current level of fugitive emissions that arise from wastewater treatment processes. Work is ongoing within Welsh Water and the wider UK water sector to improve the monitoring and reporting of such emissions, and from there we are researching technologies to run our sewage works differently to reduce the emissions themselves. 

Clear ownership of the activities within the strategy has been assigned amongst the relevant heads of services within the company, with the Welsh Water Energy Team managing & coordinating the overall carbon reduction program and reporting the annual print.  This approach mirrors that successfully taken on Innovation in the business for the last 5+ years.

Critical to the success of our plans will be the need for investment – circa £100m in AMP8 alone.   We plan to work with our environment regulator NRW to incorporate the carbon emission targets into our National Environment Programme obligations for AMP8 and updating our investment planning processes so that they value carbon within the PR24 business case.  We hope this will allow the “natural capital” associated with the net zero strategy to be valued, and so enable us to move to more nature catchment-based solutions in AMP8.

For us, this is about more on the ground innovation, action and investment, building on the great progress we have already made to reduce our carbon footprint.  It will require investment, and the support of our customers of course.  But I am hoping that COP26 will reinvigorate both our government, regulators and customers to support this critical work, as without investment we cannot meet the targets we have set out, and all that means for the next generation.