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Climate and nature are fundamental to our business and integrated in everything we do.

Climate and nature

Climate and nature are fundamental to our business and integrated in everything we do.

Climate and nature-related disclosures

Our integrated report contains all the climate and nature-related disclosures required to be consistent with the recommendations of the taskforce on climate-related financial disclosures (TCFD) and the taskforce on nature-related financial disclosures (TNFD). These are also supported by further content on our website.

Our disclosures include how climate-related risks are influencing our strategy, our net zero transition plan incorporating our verified science-based targets (SBTs) and our energy and carbon report.

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How climate influences our approach

Strategy

TCFD disclosures

  • Our strategic assessments and planning include the forecasted impacts at three time horizons and under multiple climate change scenarios

  • The risks with the most material impact on our organisation are those associated with the security of water supplies and increased volumes and intensity of rain to drain

  • We are prepared for the immediate challenges and 'Our BIG North West upgrade' will improve our resilience across of a range of climate scenarios at county, regional and national levels

How climate influences our approach

Governance

TCFD disclosures

  • The board and its committees, in particular the ESG committee, consider climate-related matters when reviewing and guiding strategy, approving the business plan and annual budgets and overseeing environmental performance, including science-based targets, our transition plan and adaptation progress

  • Managing climate-related risks and opportunities is fully integrated in the responsibilities of multiple principal management committees, including the ESG leadership group, climate change mitigation steering group and risk boards

How climate influences our approach

Risk management

TCFD disclosures

  • We have two processes to identify and assess the additional threats and variability from climate change.

  • We manage both physical and transitional climate-related risks in our corporate business risk profile. Five of our ten most significant operational risks are sensitive to climate change.

  • Climate-related risk management is fully integrated in our overall risk management system. Climate change adaptation and mitigation are material themes and extreme weather/climate change is noted as a common causal theme of event-based risks.

How climate influences our approach

Metrics and targets

TCFD disclosures

  • We track both physical and transitional metrics to assess climate-related risk and opportunities with metrics associated with rainfall being the most critical to our operations.

  • We disclose our GHG emissions and underlying energy use for 2025/26 in our energy and carbon report in our Integrated Annual Report.

  • Our main climate-related targets are our near-term and long-term science-based targets. Other environmental measures can be found in our Integrated Annual Report.

How nature influences our approach

Strategy

TNFD disclosures

  • We have identified our most material nature-related matters. Our strategies are built to consider nature over the short, medium and long term

  • Nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities are considered when developing our strategic plans and inform our investment decisions

  • Our long-term adaptive plans support investment in the resilience of the ecosystems we impact and depend on.

  • Our direct operations, upstream (1st tier) and downstream value chains are within the UK

How nature influences our approach

Governance

TNFD disclosures

  • Nature is embedded in our governance structure and regulatory commitments. Nature matters overseen and challenged by the board and its committees

  • Interactions with nature through our operations are managed in multiple principal management committees across the business

  • We actively work with our supply chain through our responsible sourcing principles to encourage our suppliers to operate in sustainable way

How nature influences our approach

Risk management

TNFD disclosures

  • We use horizon scanning, natural capital accounting, and land management approaches to identify, assess, and prioritise nature-related risks and opportunities.

  • We identify, assess and prioritise nature-related matters in our upstream and downstream value chain at site and corporate level using a range of controls.

  • We manage and monitor identified matters in the near term through our business planning process and over the long term through our drainage and water resources management plans.

  • Nature is fully integrated into our risk management process and informs the development of our short- and long-term strategic plans.

How nature influences our approach

Metrics and targets

TNFD disclosures

  • We track and monitor our nature-related risks and opportunities through our risk management framework, long-term strategic planning, and nature-related reporting.

  • We set short-, medium-, and long-term nature-related targets that align with regulatory expectations.

  • Our 2030 nature targets can be found in the Environmental performance section of our Integrated Annual Report.

Our new nature pledges

We are strengthening our environmental ambition by evolving our earlier carbon pledges and better rivers pledges to adopt a broader, more integrated set of nature pledges. This evolution reflects a growing understanding that climate, water quality, biodiversity, and community wellbeing are interconnected. By taking a whole‑ecosystem approach, we can deliver greater environmental resilience, support national policy goals, and contribute meaningfully to nature recovery.

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7,000 hectares of peatland will be under restoration by 2030.

We will continue to extend our activities restoring peatland habitats across the North West, building on the 3,000 hectares delivered since 2020 to deliver an additional 4,000 hectares by 2030.

We will plant one million trees by 2030 to create 550 hectares of woodland.

Continuing work towards our 2020 carbon pledge, we will deliver a programme of both woodland creation and improvement projects valuing actions that have broad sustainability merit enhancing biodiversity as well as climate resilience and mitigation.

By 2030, we will exceed the UK Government target and manage at least 30% of our land for nature.

Our pledge supports the UK goal to protect at least 30% of land and sea for biodiversity by 2030. We will deliver biodiversity net gain across our capital projects and landscape-recovery schemes, creating wildlife‑rich places that restore, enhance, and connect habitats across the North West.

We will protect and enhance 1,800 kilometres of river by 2030.

Having delivered more than 1,400 kilometres of river enhancement work since 2020, we pledge to protect and enhance a further 400 kilometres by 2030 as we deliver investments to improve our infrastructure and reduce spills.

Downloads

Our TCFD and net zero transition plan
Singles (PDF 2.00mb) Spread (PDF 0.40mb)
Our TNFD
Singles (PDF 1.20mb) Spread (PDF 0.70mb)
Our nature pledges
Singles (PDF 0.14mb)
Our energy and carbon report
Singles (PDF 0.30mb)