Scottish Water has published its annual Net Zero update highlighting the water company’s progress towards net zero water and waste water services by 2040.

The ‘Net Zero Hub’, led by Severn Trent Water and based at Strongford, Stoke-on-Trent, will deploy cutting-edge technology, including Siemens gPROMS digital twin, to reduce and remove CO2, CH4, and N2O emissions, which account for 57% of all emissions from the wastewater treatment process.

Affinity Water is collaborating with builders and home buyers to conduct a series of trials that will test how best to reduce water usage in new homes and businesses to protect the environment and secure sustainable water supply for the future.

Sector-wide research is critical for navigating the myriad approaches that the water sector might pursue for reducing its carbon footprint and reaching net zero by 2030, says Dan Green, head of sustainability and innovation at Wessex Water, and programme lead for UKWIR’s carbon research projects.

In an Expert Focus article from AECOM, sustainability experts Ben Murray, Principal Sustainability Consultant and Alex McMahon Consultant, Climate Change & Sustainability Services, discuss the practical and regulatory challenges the UK water sector is facing in cutting capital and operational carbon while at the same time maintaining performance standards in the face of a changing climate. 

Steve Morris, Managing Director at wastewater technology specialists HUBER Technology, explores the key role optimisation of treatment processes can play in reducing energy costs, cutting carbon emissions and delivery on the step up in efficiency Ofwat is expecting to see from the water companies.

Scottish Water is cutting carbon emissions from construction using new concrete technology – describing it as “one of the biggest innovations since the Romans invented it 2000 years ago.

Ofwat is proposing to incentivise water companies to deliver on net zero at at the upcoming 2024 Price Review via the introduction of a common operational greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions performance commitment (PC) designed to encourage efficient expenditure.

The Regulators' Alliance for Progressing Infrastructure Development (RAPID) has flagged up the need for Gate two submissions under the RAPID programme to include assessments of the whole life carbon cost of solutions.

Ofwat is calling on water companies in England and Wales to go further on Net Zero and reduce embedded carbon emissions from future infrastructure projects, in addition to operational carbon emissions.