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Supply chain targets

Engagement

We cannot achieve our decarbonisation targets without collaboration with our supply chain, and we have an opportunity to drive change throughout our value chain benefiting the entire construction sector. 

Our increased investment in energy infrastructure requires greater procurement of goods and services from our supply chain, increasing our Scope 3 emissions. In the US, we are committed to engaging with the top 50% of our US suppliers by emissions to establish a decarbonisation roadmap or action plan towards a Science Based Target by 2025/26. In the UK, our commitment is that the top 80% of our suppliers by emissions will have formally committed to set a Science Based Target by 2025/26.

We have developed a new procurement sustainability strategy to support the achievement of our targets. This strategy focuses on the changes we need to make to our contracting approach, how we can prioritise our involvement in tenders and integrate sustainability within key category strategies, and the engagement opportunities we have, both internally and externally.  

 

How can we mobilise opportunities with our supply chain?

Longer term partnerships: 

We are delivering new network infrastructure and upgrading our existing networks to deliver a secure, affordable and clean energy future. Our approach to setting up the delivery of these major network upgrades through a longer-term, partnership model with our supply chain is a core part of how we are mitigating the delivery risks in the global supply chain. We are adopting longer-term supply chain strategies, such as the Great Grid Partnership, designed to create the certainty required for suppliers to invest in network upgrades. We will also use our scale and role at the heart of the energy industry to influence the development and uptake of low-carbon alternatives to construction resources such as concrete, steel and diesel.

Procurement processes and policy: 

We will continue to work toward embedding sustainability criteria into our strategic sourcing process, including for tenders and signature procurement categories. Additionally, we’re exploring third party tools to systemise our supplier engagement and data collection process within Global Procurement.

We are in the process of onboarding Ecovadis, a collaborative platform for partners to share sustainability performance information. Tracking sustainability through the supply chain is notoriously difficult. Ecovadis will help us to enhance our supply chain reporting capabilities and maturity, giving us the information and tools to promote sustainability throughout our supply chain.

Supplier & partner engagement: 

We understand members of our supply chain are in different stages on their journey to net zero and we support them in identifying areas to focus on to reduce their own emissions. We’ve been doing this for a number of years, providing support with training materials from organisations such as the Supply Chain Sustainability School in the UK and Supply Chain Sustainability Alliance in the US to help develop capability in our supply chain.

Embedding sustainability can’t just be led from central teams and we will continue to engage with our employees in sustainability efforts and equip them with the knowledge and tools to support our commitments.

Please see below for some examples of how we’re implementing our new procurement sustainability strategy in the UK and US.

 

Low carbon construction in the UK

Supply chain emissions are a material element of our Scope 3 emissions. Most of these emissions are related to items we procure for construction projects that will support the energy transition.

In the UK, Electricity Transmission has been working on reducing carbon in construction for almost 10 years. Some key achievements over this time include:

  • Integrating carbon as a commercially weighted element in over 50 construction tenders
  • Updating our technical specifications to mandate the use of low carbon concrete – we completed the world’s largest ever continuous pour of Earth Friendly Concrete during delivery of London Power Tunnels 2.
  • Aligning with PAS2080; the industry’s carbon management best practice standard – we’ve completed external gap analysis and are due to carry out a certification audit in the coming year.

In developing our latest regulatory business plan (RIIO T3), we recognised that best practice is evolving and we have undertaken an external consultation with leading carbon experts from across industry to inform our approach and target setting. We’ve worked with stakeholders from across the business to prioritise future opportunities to decarbonise our construction activities and conducted a high-level assessment to understand potential costs and potential constraints. As part of our RIIO T3 business plan submission we've set quantitative targets against some of our key carbon hotspot areas and in line with wider industry initiatives targeting key material supply chains. By setting standards and goals – such as the use of 50% low carbon concrete and steel by 2030 - we can directly influence how manufacturers, suppliers, constructors, and service providers respond and make changes to their operations. This business plan will be finalised in December 2025.

 

Working with suppliers in the US

In the US we’re working closely with our strategic suppliers to drive sustainability in partnerships. Through strategic supplier partnerships we can jointly identify and review low carbon alternatives, explore and innovate with new technologies and materials, and embed them into contract arrangements.