RESPONSIBILITY
Environment
At National Gas, we care passionately about the environment. We strive to achieve minimal adverse environmental impacts across all our operations whilst also seeking ways to enhance the local environment.
Our environmental responsibilities
Gas is, and will be for decades to come, a major contributor to the blend of energy sources powering the UK. We want to play our part in helping the UK address its big climate challenges. But more than that, we’re eager to reduce the impact of our own operations on the environment while delivering positive benefits for the communities we serve.
As a business, we are committed to reaching net zero for our own carbon emissions by 2050, with an ambition of achieving net zero by 2040 – a decade ahead of the UK Government target.
Transition to hydrogen
We are leading the way in decarbonising the UK energy network by supporting the transition to hydrogen. Find out more about our FutureGrid programme, which is testing NTS assets with hydrogen and blended gases, and our work on Project Union to build a new hydrogen transmission network for Great Britain.
Environmental Action Plan
Our Environmental Action Plan (EAP) sets out 30 commitments to demonstrate how we, as a business, intend to reduce our impact on the environment. These commitments are grouped into five broad areas:
1. Air quality – compressor emissions
We’ll work to reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from our operations. This includes replacing some older compressors in our network with cleaner technology.
We produce NOx in the combustion of natural gas in our gas turbine driven compressor fleet. To ensure compliance with tighter emission limits in the Environmental Permitting Regulations we are installing new lower NOx emitting assets at Peterborough, Huntingdon and Hatton compressor stations.
2. Climate change – our climate commitment
We have developed a “science-based target initiative aligned” route to net zero. This is particularly challenging for the gas industry where routes to decarbonisation are uncertain and rely on policy decisions about the future hydrogen economy.
3. Responsible asset use
We’ll address redundant assets, asset groups or sites, contributing to a sustainable, lower-carbon future by decommissioning them responsibly or repurposing where possible.
4. Caring for the natural environment
We’ll ensure both new construction and decommissioning projects include initiatives to protect and promote biodiversity. We’ll also enhance the value of natural assets on non-operational land that we own.
We have introduced our Natural Capital Tool, which enables us to measure the impact of our projects on the natural environment and to develop reinstatement plans to ensure we deliver a 10% net gain upon project completion. We have also assessed the environmental value of our non-operational land and are developing plans to deliver a net increase in environmental value, in addition to improved hedgerow planting at our Aylesbury Compressor Station and promotion of the Creekside Discovery education centre.
5. Leadership for change
We’ll embed sustainability in our decision making, be transparent on our progress, and work with industry to drive forward the sustainability agenda.
We have already embedded sustainability in network development through our ND500 and Formal Environmental Assessment processes, and are working with our suppliers to ensure they have the same vision. We are prominent in the fugitive emission landscape, supporting the development of leak detection and repair methodologies in the UK and across Europe through our industry engagement activities.
Reducing methane emissions
National Gas has pledged to reduce methane emissions from our operations with a specific focus on operational venting and detection and quantification of fugitive emissions. As part of our methane emission reduction, projects are underway, grouped into three themes. The aim is to reduce methane emissions from operating the NTS by up to 15% during the RIIO-T2 price control period (2021-2026). The three themes are:
- Mobile recompression – adding mobile pipeline recompression capability and new mobile recompression units to capture methane emissions from pipeline inspection works and compressor station depressurisations.
- Compressor machinery train – trials of combined gas recompression and zero loss compressor seal technology to reduce methane emissions from compressor venting, which is the largest contributor to NTS methane emissions.
- Detection and analytics – an expansion of our fugitive monitoring programme to all above ground installations on the NTS
Environmental reports and information
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