RP7 Stakeholder Consultation WEB - Flipbook - Page 49
7.Preparing our business for a digital and
environmentally sustainable future
Context
The preceding sections have set out our
commitments to deliver better outcomes
for our customers. Underpinning
these ambitions are a number of
key organisational changes that are
essential to drive transformational
change in the RP7 period and beyond.
This section sets out how we plan to
prepare our business for the future; to
meet the challenges of environmentally
sustainable operations, greater
digitalisation and workforce resilience.
Environmentally
sustainable operations
In addition to our role in developing
our network to facilitate wider society
to decarbonise, we also recognise
our direct responsibility to protect the
environment and reduce the carbon
footprint of our own operations. Building
on our achievements in the current
period, we believe our Environmental
Action Plan commitments for the RP7
period are ambitious and achievable.
of our Environmental Strategy and our
RP7 ambition to ‘Deliver a Sustainable
Energy System for All’.
Specifically, we propose the following
RP7 commitments, which we hope to
develop further with the input from our
stakeholders.
We aim to halve our directly
controllable carbon emissions by 2030
and meet net zero by 2050 or sooner,
in line with the UK Government’s
target. We have signalled our
commitment to the Science Based
Target Initiative (SBTi) ‘business
ambition for 1.5°C’ committing to set
a science-based emission reduction
target for our internal business carbon
footprint. We are also signatories of
the E.DSO Sustainable Grid Charter
and a committed participant of the
United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change Race to Zero
campaign.
Our RP7 Environmental Action
Plan (EAP) will set out all of our
RP7 ambitions to meet the net zero
and environmental responsibility
expectations of our stakeholders, by
reducing our environmental impact and
decarbonising our business activities.
Our fleet contributes a significant
proportion of our business carbon
footprint. So far as possible we have
developed a transition plan for each
fleet vehicle and by 2030 we aim to
electrify more than 70% of our fleet.
We expect to require higher initial
investment in the earlier years of the
transition, however we expect to see
a net savings compared to continuing
with diesel vehicles. The cost savings
realised will depend on the phasing of
the transition.
This section highlights our initial view
In RP7 we aim to quantify the
RP7 Commitments: sustainability and environmental
Our strategy aligns with the UN Sustainable Development
Goals and our commitments as signatories to the E.DSO
Sustainable Grid Charter.
embodied carbon of our new projects
to set a baseline and reduction
target. We will monitor and report on
our embodied carbon footprint and
collaborate with our supply chain to
reduce it. We will also work with our
supply chain and manufacturers to
ensure that more than 80% of our top
250 suppliers have publicly disclosed
their high standards of environmental
management.
SF6 is widely used in the electricity
industry as an insulation gas in plant
and switchgear. Recognising its high
Global Warming Potential (GWP),
we have stringent policies around its
handling, management and recycling.
In RP7, we will aim to limit our SF6
losses to the atmosphere, recycle 90%
of recovered SF6 from the network, and
collaborate with industry partners to
develop alternatives.
Older design of high voltage
underground cables contain fluid
to provide insulation. In the event of
damage by third parties or a fault, this
fluid may leak out into the surrounding
ground. During RP7 we will replace
around 10km of the worst leaking
circuits with non-oil alternatives. We
also aim to improve our fluid filled cable
network leakage performance by 10%
when compared with RP6 excluding
third party damage.
Q23. With regards to our
environmental considerations –
•Please rank your priorities in
each of our Environmental
Action Plan commitments
1-10. See page 69.
•What do you think of our
Environmental strategy? Are
there any areas missing?
We will reduce our business carbon footprint (BCF).
We will improve awareness and visibility of
sustainability performance.
We will promote Environmental and Social
transparency in the supply chain.
We will reduce the impact of our network on the environment.
RP7 Stakeholder Consultation
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