How Everflow connects to people and the environment 

 

Utilities are our main business and are also essential for life and for businesses to thrive. However, the availability and quality of resources like power, connectivity, water, materials, and even the air we breathe depends on all our attitudes and actions - now and in the future.  All the services our business customers use not only have a financial cost but also environmental and social costs. They impact climate change, as well as other aspects of the environment like biodiversity, air, soil, and water quality, which also impact people’s health and quality of life. 

Even in regions with seemingly abundant supplies, we’re already experiencing rising prices and threats to our resources, including war, drought, flooding, pollution, and ageing infrastructure. These challenges will only increase if populations continue to grow, climate change is allowed to continue, and people and businesses don’t change how we use, reuse, and manage our resources. 

Everflow can help our customers better understand the supply, social, and environmental challenges their markets and communities face. We want to help businesses use resources efficiently, in a way that also saves them money, effort, and time. Doing this will also make it simple for our customers to stay ahead of the trend of ever-tightening regulation and enforcement – an important competitive advantage. 

 

Our commitments 

As with everything we do, the way we help our customers, and protect people and the environment will always aim to deliver excellent service, for a fair price, as simply as possible. We anticipate that tougher sustainability legislation and regulation are inevitable and wish to help prepare businesses for the future.  

 

We’ll protect and improve people and the environment by promoting sustainable behaviour by offering products and services to support businesses.

A large proportion of business sites and infrastructure were developed before people became aware of the need to carefully manage consumption. Populations have increased, as well as how much power, water and materials people and businesses use. So, businesses now need advice and retrofitted devices and systems to help reduce their consumption. 

We’ll:

  • Strive to offer services that are net beneficial to people and the environment as standard, by developing smart software and collaborating with innovative partners to develop leading services, 

  • Inform businesses about environmental and social issues relating to our services, and simple ways they need to act, 

  • Work with businesses in a targeted and tailored way to reduce their consumption and improve their impact on people and the environment. 

 

Demonstrating sustainable behaviour in the way we manage our business 

It’s important that we ‘walk the talk,’ so that we can base our advice for businesses on experience, innovate and lead in this field. 

We’ll: 

  • Ensure employees and our business premises are equipped to use resources efficiently – both at home and at work,

  • Encourage employees to make carbon and resource-conscious choices,

  • Influence our suppliers and partners to improve their impact on people and the environment, 

  • Where conflicts or trade-offs are required, be transparent about our choices and take customers’ views and best interests into account. 

     

Investing in protecting and improving society and the environment 

As a company, we strive for our activity to be profitable. However, we recognise that not all our activities to support people and the environment can be profitable - at least not straight away. 

In 2021, Everflow was the first retailer to make all our customers’ water and wastewater supplies carbon neutral. We also signed The Climate Pledge, which commits us to being net zero carbon by 2040 across Scopes 1, 2 and 3 of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol - ten years ahead of the global Paris Agreement deadline (2050).  

We’ll continue to: 

  • Transparently report our carbon reduction progress against science-based targets to reach Net Zero on our website, 

  • Invest in projects that seek to protect and improve the environment through innovation, 

  • Offset carbon emissions associated with our activities that we have not yet managed to eliminate 

  • Continue to invest a proportion of our profits in projects that help support education, employment, justice, health, and well-being in our communities. 

 

Campaigning for every business to have access to smart monitoring of key utilities 

Smart meters are essential for measuring how much energy and water customers are using in real time to detect wasteful usage quickly. This enables businesses to make changes that save them money and put less pressure on infrastructure and resources. 

Smart meters empower customers to manage their impact on people and the environment by making them more aware of their energy and water use. They also help businesses receive more accurate bills and save money, because more processes can be automated and done remotely. For example, reading meters. 

We’ll: 

  • Collaborate with partners to offer smart metering options (smart meters, sub-meters, data logger attachments, or other innovations) to businesses,

  • Advocate for a national approach to delivering smart metering for every business, 

  • Make the most of the treasure trove of data that smart meters produce to ensure that businesses benefit (e.g. by alerting customers when their usage suddenly spikes or is above average for their business type). 

     

Collaborating with the wider business services industry on social and environmental issues 

We can communicate with, support, influence, and learn from many other organisations, both inside and outside our industry. We appreciate that business customers’ time is particularly valuable, so will coordinate our efforts to avoid duplicate communications from others. 

We’ll: 

  • Continually research trends and innovations that can help businesses protect people and the environment,

  • Support national resource-saving and other social and environmental campaigns,

  • Collaborate with wholesale companies and other suppliers to encourage action that will deliver shared social and environmental goals, 

  • Influence policy makers and regulators by contributing ideas and opinions to consultations and forums, as they develop their directions on social and environmental action. 

 

We believe our sustainability ambitions are already attracting the best customers to our organisation, as well as suppliers, investors, and talent. Sustainability is the foundation upon which we can continue to be the best and do the right thing while growing fast. We believe this is best delivered by setting meaningful targets and monitoring and reporting results against an adaptive strategy. 

We’ll launch our new holistic Sustainability Strategy in Q4 2024. 

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions about this Social and Environmental Policy, please contact makemegreener@everflowutilities.com.