Water provider Business Stream hails carbon-slashing green milestone

Water provider Business Stream has hailed a green milestone after cutting its carbon emissions by half in just one year.

The company, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Scottish Water with its own board, achieved the 50 per cent reduction by rolling out a series of measures to deliver environmental savings while continuing to retain many of the “positive behaviours” that had been adopted during lockdown. The result, measured from April 2022 to last month, exceeded the group’s promise to cut emissions by a fifth during the 12-month period.

Business Stream is the largest operator in Scotland’s non-domestic water market with a 350-strong workforce. Colleagues are said to have embraced the firm’s “climate conscious travel policy”, which was launched during the past year, alongside an electric vehicle salary sacrifice scheme.

Chief executive Jo Dow said: “In addition to supporting our customers to achieve their sustainability goals, we also have a responsibility to reduce our own environmental impact. Over the past two years we’ve taken proactive steps to significantly lower our carbon emissions – contributing to our goal of achieving net zero by 2030. Work is now underway to identify the additional steps we need to take to reduce our footprint further.”

Created in 2006 to offer water services to businesses in Scotland, Business Stream later acquired the non-household customer base of Southern Water ahead of the planned opening of the English retail water market. That market change in 2017 paved the way for 1.2 million businesses and public bodies in England to be able to choose their water supplier.