As we continue to build our business plan with stakeholders, here are some ideas that show how we could move forward and deliver what matters to you.
Reducing our greenhouse gas emissions
Our largest source of carbon emissions is from transmission line losses. These are largely out of our control. Our intention for the RIIO-T2 period is to improve how we report the work we’re doing in this area.
The biggest source of emissions, that is in our control, is insulating gases. We use the gas SF6 in some of our high-voltage equipment, which has a high global warming potential. For the RIIO-T2 period, we intend to continue exploring alternative insulating gases.
Other approaches we could take during RIIO-T2 include:
reducing the carbon intensity of our construction projects by using new technologies that eliminate waste. We could also use more low-carbon materials
working with Ofgem and our stakeholders to design incentives for reducing carbon emissions.
Reducing our impact on the local environment
Our aim for the RIIO-T2 period is to continue working with third parties to introduce more sustainable ways to use and manage our resources.
Other potential activities during RIIO-T2 include:
- expanding our Natural Grid scheme. This improves the natural environment at sites on non-operational land around our energy assets. We estimate we could roll the scheme out to around 25 sites – or an extra 75 hectares – for less than half a penny a year on consumers’ bills
- make sure we deliver an overall environmental gain on our construction projects
- reduce the amount of waste we create
- engage more widely with businesses about advancing the electrification of transport. This could help reduce local air pollution and global climate change.
Reducing the visual impact of our existing assets
Some of our stakeholders are concerned about the visual impact of our sites and equipment. This is particularly the case for transmission lines in National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
We’ve worked closely with stakeholders during RIIO-T1. Together, we’ve created our Visual Impact Provision (VIP) policy.
Our stakeholder advisory group has told us that we should continue our existing policy and process for identifying visual impact projects during RIIO-T2.
Supporting the communities we work in
Our intention during RIIO-T2 is to continue to encourage our employees to volunteer in their local communities.
We intend to build on our current initiatives to engage with schools, parents and children. We will promote engineering as a modern, dynamic and desirable career with a great future.
We also plan to further support community initiatives and relationships across our business. We want to continue with our UK Community Grant Programme, which supports local charity projects and community groups.
Promoting social responsibility through our supply chain
We intend to encourage suppliers to follow our lead on environmental and social responsibility for RIIO-T2.
We could create more diversity among suppliers by encouraging more small and medium sized enterprises to apply for our tenders. We could also encourage our suppliers to report on their carbon emissions, to pay the living wage and to combat modern slavery.