Our road to Net Zero by 2040

Around 90% of our total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (Scope 1, 2 and 3), come from the gas and electricity provided to customers (Scope 3). By 2050, we want to have helped our customers to be net zero; and by the end of 2030, we want to have delivered a 28% GHG intensity reduction.

We’re on track to deliver this: in 2024, we provided energy, services and solutions that help cut the GHG intensity of the energy our customers use by 6% against the 2019 base year. We’ll continue to help our customers journey to net zero, including through supplying 100% renewable or zero carbon power in the UK and Ireland by 2030. 

To be a net zero business, we’re focused on driving down emissions across our business operations which includes our property, fleet and travel. Meaningful progress was made against this target in 2024, with our total GHG emissions reducing by 18% against the 2019 base year. 

Looking ahead, we’ll cut our GHG emissions by 50% by the end of 2032 by continuing to drive emissions out of our business whilst support the adoption of lower carbon energy – from achieving net zero gas production and storage by 2035, to having a zero emission road fleet by 2030. 

To build a more sustainable future, we need the best team – a diverse mix of people and skills, where different thoughts and ideas can grow, and where everyone feels welcome and able to succeed. That's why we plan to create an engaged team that reflects the full diversity of the communities we serve by 2030 (in line with Census data for working populations).

We’ve delivered good progress on this goal, with better recruitment and retention practices providing an initial boost to the majority of our diversity goals, and we’re now focused on growing a more inclusive culture. We’ve received external recognition for our efforts including earning a place in The Times Top 50 Employers for Gender Equality. However, we recognise that we need to continue to do more. 

To provide the best service for customers and get to net zero, we need to create thousands of high-quality jobs. There’s a huge opportunity to tap into the talent of under-represented groups to fulfil these roles and deliver a greener, fairer future. We plan to recruit 3,500 apprentices by 2030, and provide career development opportunities for under-represented groups.

Since 2021, we’ve welcomed over 1,500 apprentices to our team. As part of this, we’ve progressed our ambition for 50% of our engineering apprentices to be women, reaching 19% so far. This is much higher than the gas engineer average of 0.3%.  In 2025, we’ll continue to work towards our goal whilst inspiring more diversity through recruitment, marketing and volunteering campaigns as we work to diversify our wider team too. 

We’re harnessing the passion of our people to build inclusive communities, because strong communities are central to a more sustainable future. By 2030, we plan that our colleagues will have given 100,000 volunteering days to local communities.

In 2024, our colleagues donated around 10,700 days which is nearly 40% more than the previous year and brings our total tally to over 31,600 days since 2019.  . To maintain momentum, we’ll continue to expand volunteering opportunities including via our Get Set for Positive Energy schools partnership with Team GB and ParalympicsGB, which  will help us achieve the annual step-up required to meet our goal.