Energy & emissions
Greenhouse gas emissions from English and Welsh water companies
Water companies need to use a lot of energy to treat water, help it travel to and from your home and then treat it before returning it to our rivers. Water companies strive to minimise the amount of greenhouse gases produced and reduce the impact on climate change. Water companies in England have committed to achieving Net Zero operational emissions by 2030. To find out how companies will be reducing their emissions, see here.
- 0.9 million
- average annual car emissions
Source: Water UK; England and Wales, Apr 2021 - Mar 2022
Greenhouse gas emissions
Water companies use a lot of energy to treat water, pump it to and from your home and then treat it before returning it to our rivers. This creates carbon dioxide emissions which companies are working hard to bring down, to reduce their impact on the environment. Companies also generate renewable energy from sewage gas, solar panels and wind turbines, which reduces their operational carbon emissions.
Close PanelWhy might greenhouse gas emissions vary?
The amount of energy needed to treat water and sewage varies for many reasons. This includes the level of treatment needed for the water, the geography of the area – how flat or hilly an area is will affect how much energy is needed to pump water – and how much water customers are using.
Greenhouse gas emissions also vary depending on how much energy companies generate themselves, as well as variations in the carbon dioxide released in the production of the electricity that they buy from the grid. These emissions are also affected by the way companies process water, sewage and sludge.
There are different ways to calculate greenhouse gas emissions, and the government recommends reporting both ‘location-based’ emissions and ‘market-based’ emissions’. Location-based figures use an average figure for the emissions from electricity in the region where it is used, which gives a consistent view of emissions over time. Market-based figures use information for the emissions from the electricity that companies have chosen to use, for example if companies are on green tariffs with lower emissions. Both location-based and market-based figures are provided in this section.
Gross operational greenhouse gas emissions (KgCO2e) per megalitre of treated water – location based
This graph shows greenhouse gas emissions created by the generation of power used to treat and supply water in the latest year. There are different ways to calculate greenhouse gas emissions. This graph shows ‘location-based’ emissions, using an average figure for the emissions from electricity in the region where it is used, which will give a consistent view of emissions over time.
As companies of different sizes have different levels of emissions, the amount of emissions in kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent for each company has been divided by the volume of water treated in millions of litres.
There are other things that might make the level of emissions vary between companies, like the level of treatment needed and whether areas are flat or hilly. Including all these factors would make the graph very complicated so, to keep it simple, for this graph emissions have been divided just by the volume of water treated.
To find out more about each company’s carbon emissions, click the button below the graph
Gross operational greenhouse gas emissions (KgCO2e) per megalitre of treated water – location based
Source: Water UK
Gross operational greenhouse gas emissions (KgCO2e) per megalitre of treated sewage – location based
This graph shows greenhouse gas emissions created by the generation of power used to treat sewage in the latest year. There are different ways to calculate greenhouse gas emissions. This graph shows ‘location-based’ emissions, using an average figure for the emissions from electricity in the region where it is used, which will give a consistent view of emissions over time.
As companies of different sizes have different levels of emissions, the amount of emissions in kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent for each company has been divided by the volume of sewage treated in millions of litres.
There are other things that might make the level of emissions vary between companies, like the level of treatment needed and whether areas are flat or hilly. Including all these factors would make the graph very complicated so, to keep it simple, for this graph emissions have been divided just by the volume of sewage treated.
To find out more about each company’s carbon emissions, click the button below the graph.
Gross operational greenhouse gas emissions (KgCO2e) per megalitre of treated sewage – location based
Source: Water UK
Net operational greenhouse gas emissions (KgCO2e) per megalitre of treated water – market based
This graph shows greenhouse gas emissions created by the generation of power used to treat and supply water in the latest year. There are different ways to calculate greenhouse gas emissions. This graph shows ‘market-based’ emissions, using information for the emissions from the electricity that companies have chosen to use, for example if companies are on green tariffs with lower emissions.
As companies of different sizes have different levels of emissions, the amount of emissions in kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent for each company has been divided by the volume of water treated in millions of litres.
There are other things that might make the level of emissions vary between companies, like the level of treatment needed and whether areas are flat or hilly. Including all these factors would make the graph very complicated so, to keep it simple, for this graph emissions have been divided just by the volume of water treated.
To find out more about each company’s carbon emissions, click the button below the graph.
Net operational greenhouse gas emissions (KgCO2e) per megalitre of treated water – market based
Source: Water UK
Net operational greenhouse gas emissions (KgCO2e) per megalitre of treated sewage – market based
This graph shows greenhouse gas emissions created by the generation of power used to treat sewage in the latest year. There are different ways to calculate greenhouse gas emissions. This graph shows ‘market-based’ emissions, using information for the emissions from the electricity that companies have chosen to use, for example if companies are on green tariffs with lower emissions.
As companies of different sizes have different levels of emissions, the amount of emissions in kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent for each company has been divided by the volume of sewage treated in millions of litres.
There are other things that might make the level of emissions vary between companies, like the level of treatment needed and whether areas are flat or hilly. Including all these factors would make the graph very complicated so, to keep it simple, for this graph emissions have been divided just by the volume of sewage treated.
To find out more about each company’s carbon emissions, click the button below the graph.
Net operational greenhouse gas emissions (KgCO2e) per megalitre of treated sewage – market based
Source: Water UK
Gross operational greenhouse gas emissions (KgCO2e) per megalitre of treated water – location based
This graph shows greenhouse gas emissions created by the generation of power used to treat and supply water in the latest year. There are different ways to calculate greenhouse gas emissions. This graph shows ‘location-based’ emissions, using an average figure for the emissions from electricity in the region where it is used, which will give a consistent view of emissions over time.
As companies of different sizes have different levels of emissions, the amount of emissions in kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent for each company has been divided by the volume of water treated in millions of litres.
There are other things that might make the level of emissions vary between companies, like the level of treatment needed and whether areas are flat or hilly. Including all these factors would make the graph very complicated so, to keep it simple, for this graph emissions have been divided just by the volume of water treated.
To find out more about each company’s carbon emissions, click the button below the graph
Gross operational greenhouse gas emissions (KgCO2e) per megalitre of treated water – location based
Source: Water UK
Gross operational greenhouse gas emissions (KgCO2e) per megalitre of treated sewage – location based
This graph shows greenhouse gas emissions created by the generation of power used to treat sewage in the latest year. There are different ways to calculate greenhouse gas emissions. This graph shows ‘location-based’ emissions, using an average figure for the emissions from electricity in the region where it is used, which will give a consistent view of emissions over time.
As companies of different sizes have different levels of emissions, the amount of emissions in kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent for each company has been divided by the volume of sewage treated in millions of litres.
There are other things that might make the level of emissions vary between companies, like the level of treatment needed and whether areas are flat or hilly. Including all these factors would make the graph very complicated so, to keep it simple, for this graph emissions have been divided just by the volume of sewage treated.
To find out more about each company’s carbon emissions, click the button below the graph.
Gross operational greenhouse gas emissions (KgCO2e) per megalitre of treated sewage – location based
Source: Water UK
Net operational greenhouse gas emissions (KgCO2e) per megalitre of treated water – market based
This graph shows greenhouse gas emissions created by the generation of power used to treat and supply water in the latest year. There are different ways to calculate greenhouse gas emissions. This graph shows ‘market-based’ emissions, using information for the emissions from the electricity that companies have chosen to use, for example if companies are on green tariffs with lower emissions.
As companies of different sizes have different levels of emissions, the amount of emissions in kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent for each company has been divided by the volume of water treated in millions of litres.
There are other things that might make the level of emissions vary between companies, like the level of treatment needed and whether areas are flat or hilly. Including all these factors would make the graph very complicated so, to keep it simple, for this graph emissions have been divided just by the volume of water treated.
To find out more about each company’s carbon emissions, click the button below the graph.
Net operational greenhouse gas emissions (KgCO2e) per megalitre of treated water – market based
Source: Water UK
Net operational greenhouse gas emissions (KgCO2e) per megalitre of treated sewage – market based
This graph shows greenhouse gas emissions created by the generation of power used to treat sewage in the latest year. There are different ways to calculate greenhouse gas emissions. This graph shows ‘market-based’ emissions, using information for the emissions from the electricity that companies have chosen to use, for example if companies are on green tariffs with lower emissions.
As companies of different sizes have different levels of emissions, the amount of emissions in kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent for each company has been divided by the volume of sewage treated in millions of litres.
There are other things that might make the level of emissions vary between companies, like the level of treatment needed and whether areas are flat or hilly. Including all these factors would make the graph very complicated so, to keep it simple, for this graph emissions have been divided just by the volume of sewage treated.
To find out more about each company’s carbon emissions, click the button below the graph.
Net operational greenhouse gas emissions (KgCO2e) per megalitre of treated sewage – market based
Source: Water UK
Conserving water
You can help water companies use less energy by saving water so they don't have to treat and pump so much around. Take a look at how you can save water.