Climate change

We are proactively responding to ongoing and future changes in our climate.

We are involved in research at both national and regional levels into climate change.

It is likely that winters in the South West will become wetter and summers drier and the overall effect of these changes will be a reduction in annual rainfall. This, combined with higher temperatures, will lead to increased evaporation from rivers and reservoirs and will have an impact on the amount of water our resources can supply.

We use climate change research findings in our water resources models to see how the balance between supply and demand might change in the future and to plan to accommodate this change.

It is also likely that we will see more extreme weather events such as storms and flooding events. Keeping sites operational when faced with external threats such as flooding is fundamental to maintaining a reliable service to customers. Our experts have been working with the Environment Agency and other experts for a number of years to understand the risk to our service presented by flooding and extreme weather.

Protections are already in place at key sites. The latest climate and flood risk projections will be used to ensure that future measures we put in place are as robust as possible.

We’re also working hard to reduce our own carbon footprint and alleviate against further climate change. We aim to contribute to the industry commitment to become a net zero carbon sector by 2030. We believe an approach to climate change that addresses both adaptation and mitigation is essential if the challenges of climate change are to be managed. Our efforts towards adapting to a changing climate and in controlling our greenhouse gas emissions through climate change mitigation are part of our overall ethos to become a more sustainable business.

There’s more information on the Government website on Climate change explained

Our 2021 Climate Change Adaptation Report can be found here.

Our previous Climate Change Adaptation Report can be found here.

A detailed Climate Change adaptation report is available on request.