National Grid 2008 Annual Report Download - page 542

BOWNE INTEGRATED TYPESETTING SYSTEM
CRC: 52137
Name: NATIONAL GRID
Date: 17-JUN-2008 03:10:51.35Operator: BNY99999TPhone: [phone]Site: BOWNE OF NEW YORK
Y59930.SUB, DocName: EX-15.1, Doc: 16, Page: 26
Description: EXHIBIT 15.1
0/4222.00.00.00Y59930BNY
[E/O] EDGAR 2 *Y59930/222/4*
BOWNE INTEGRATED TYPESETTING SYSTEM
CRC: 52137
Name: NATIONAL GRID
Date: 17-JUN-2008 03:10:51.35Operator: BNY99999TPhone: [phone]Site: BOWNE OF NEW YORK
Y59930.SUB, DocName: EX-15.1, Doc: 16, Page: 26 Description: EXHIBIT 15.1
0/4222.00.00.00Y59930BNY
[E/O] EDGAR 2 *Y59930/222/4*
Table of Contents
34
Performance a
g
ainst our ob
j
ectives continued
National Grid plc
Environment
We are committed to safeguarding the global environment
for future generations, taking positive action to reduce our
contribution to climate change and our other impacts on the
environment.
Our key performance indicator to monitor our performance in this area
is the percentage reduction in our greenhouse gas emissions against
our baseline. We also measure absolute emissions.
We report our greenhouse gas emissions in line with our
corporate responsibility reporting principles, which includes
our interpretation of the World Resources Institute
Greenhouse Gas Protocol. The Protocol provides a
breakdown of direct emissions (Scope 1), indirect emissions
resulting from purchased electricity (Scope 2) and other
indirect emissions (Scope 3). We believe our breakdown
provides greater transparency and focuses attention on
those emissions over which we have the greatest control.
During 2007/08, we reviewed our climate change strategy
(first approved in 2006), and concluded that we should
increase our target of reducing our Scope 1 and 2 emissions
of greenhouse gases to 80% against our baseline ahead of
2050, compared with our prior 60% reduction target. This
tar
g
et is ambitious and will challen
g
e us to develop, now and
over the next 42 years, new ways of conductin
g
our business
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
We will deliver our revised 80% reduction target through our
climate chan
g
e initiative, with a corporate team that will work
with each of our lines of business to deliver the tar
g
et. The
initiative is structured around three elements which we
believe will transform our business:
For this reportin
g
period, we have not included the emissions
associated with the operations acquired with KeySpan
because we need to conduct an emission inventory and
verification process before we can include those emissions
in our baseline and in our reported absolute emissions.
Durin
g
2008/09, we will carry out a review of our
g
reenhouse
gas inventory to ensure that we are capturing data from all
material emission sources, in particular identifying and
quantifyin
g
those associated with the operations we acquired
with KeySpan.
Against our baseline, to date we have achieved an
approximate 38% reduction. The derivation of our baseline is
included in the responsibility section of our website.
During 2007/08, our Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas
emissions amounted to some 4.1 million tonnes CO
2
equivalent,
Climate change
Climate change is possibly one of the greatest
challenges facing society in the 21st century.
Our objective is to reduce National Grid’s
emissions of greenhouse gases by 80% against
our baseline.
fully integrating sustainability and climate change
considerations into our business decisions,
including the setting of carbon budgets within each
of our lines of business;
influencing legislators and regulators to reshape
energy markets to meet the climate change
challen
g
e; and
helping and supporting our customers, employees
and suppliers in changing their behaviours so as to
be more considerate of the environment.
compared with 4.3 million tonnes in 2006/07 and 4.8 million
tonnes in 2005/06.
Total Scope 1 and 2 emissions per £million of revenue
amounted to some 457 tonnes CO
2
equivalent in
2007/08 compared with 471 tonnes in 2006/07 and
521 tonnes in 2005/06.
Methane leakage from our gas networks accounts for
some 61% of this year’s reported Scope 1 and 2
emissions. During the year, we replaced approximately
1,850 kilometres of old iron pipes in the UK, the largest
source of these emissions.
Losses from our electricity transmission and
distribution networks account for a further approximate
5.6 million tonnes CO
2
equivalent, compared with 5.1
million tonnes in 2006/07 and 5.0 million tonnes in
2005/06. These losses, and consequently the resulting
emissions, are largely driven by factors outside our
direct control (for example, the fuel used by individual
generators and the physical distance between
generation and centres of demand). For this reason,
we class these as Scope 3 emissions. A more detailed
rationale behind this decision, together with a
breakdown of the constituent emission sources for the
three categories, is included in our reporting principles
on our website.
Although greenhouse gas emissions from the
operations acquired with KeySpan are not included in
the above performance metrics, the most significant
emissions are made from our electricity generation
plants in New York City and Long Island, including the
Ravenswood generation station. Since we acquired
them up until 31 March 2008, these plants emitted
approximately 5.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.
* Excludes operations acquired with KeySpan. These will be included from 2008/09
onwards. Totals are approximate and prepared where possible on a combination of fiscal
and calendar year data
†
Tonnes per £m revenue excludes emissions and revenue from KeySpan
* Excludes operations acquired with KeySpan. These will be included from 2008/09
onwards. Totals are approximate and prepared where possible on a combination of fiscal
and calendar year data