Yorkshire Water is aiming to halve carbon emissions at any new assets it builds by 2020 – one of six new carbon reduction targets which form part of the water company’s commitment to the Infrastructure Carbon Review.

The Review  is a joint initiative between industry leaders and government ministers that aims to reduce carbon in infrastructure.

The six new pledges for reducing carbon emissions are:

• Halving carbon emissions in any new assets built by 2020.
• Trialling at least three innovative water management solutions over the next three years to reduce carbon emissions
• Measuring and monitoring carbon emissions to inform future investment decisions.
• Completing sustainability risk assessments.
• Securing certification to the Asset Management Standard to embed sustainability into business procedures.
• Continuing to reduce carbon emissions whilst maintaining Carbon Trust Standard certification.

In recent years Yorkshire Water has been  successful in delivering absolute emissions reductions despite numerous growth pressures. In 2013-14 operational carbon emissions were 357 ktCO2e, a 15% reduction compared to 2010-11 emissions. 

The firm is expecting its operational emissions for 2014-15 to be in the region of 367 ktCO2e -  an increase of 3% on 2013-14 performance which is due to the grid electricity emissions factor rising by 11%. This means that despite consuming less electricity, the fact the emissions factor has increased so much will potentially result in a increase in emissions in 2014-15.

The biggest impact Yorkshire Water can have on its carbon footprint is to reduce emissions from electricity consumption, which accounts for about 75% of the footprint. In 2013/14 the firm far outperformed a target to reduce total electricity consumption by 3% (2010-11 baseline) and actually achieved a 6% reduction.

Measures to reduce electricity consumption include optimising site processes, where the firm is investing to automate.

October last year saw the official opening of  Yorkshire Water’s £34 million innovative and energy self-sufficient bio-energy plant located at its Esholt waste water treatment works.

In February this year Yorkshire Water extended its partnership with npower after signing a new contract which will see half of its energy needs met through renewable electricity supplied by Drax-owned Haven Power.

The deal, facilitated by RWE Supply and Trading, will see Haven Power supply renewable energy to Yorkshire via npower until March 2017. The collaboration between the energy companies will save Yorkshire Water £250,000. The company saw an increase of 80% in renewable energy generation over the last year, attributable to strong operational performance from existing assets as well as increasing generation from the two new facilities at Bradford and Sheffield. This has contributed to a reduction in the company’s carbon footprint by 15,000 tonnes in the last year.