A word from our leaders
I am delighted to share our Sustainability Report for a second year. As the gas distribution network for most of Yorkshire, the North East and northern Cumbria, looking after people and the planet is integral to everything we do and essential to achieving our vision for a fairer, greener future for the North of England.
Our customers and wider stakeholders care deeply about the role we can play in creating a thriving environment, while keeping bills as low as possible. We strive to ensure that every investment decision that we make delivers value for money, while improving environmental, economic and social opportunities in the region.
This year we’ve continued to work closely with our partners, supply chain and wider stakeholders to deliver the commitments set out in our People and Planet Strategy and we’re making great progress – from our ardent focus on reducing gas leakage which has seen a further 6% drop in greenhouse gas emissions this year, to installing solar panels at our offices and depots, to rolling out carbon training to empower our colleagues to be more environmentally aware.
In December 2024 we submitted our plans for the next regulatory period (2026 – 2031) to Ofgem, the energy regulator. This sets out a £1.83 billion investment programme, with environment and sustainability a core focus throughout. This plan is founded on our long standing track record of strong performance. It builds on the progress we’ve made since 2013 to reduce the environmental impact of our daily operations, helping to ensure a fair transition to net zero, while improving the lives and opportunities for some of the most disadvantaged communities in our region.
We’ve also made great strides towards creating a more inclusive workforce, empowering our Colleague Communities to influence strategic business decisions that will make NGN an even better place to work for everyone. This includes modernising our company policies and procedures as well as introducing more opportunities for learning and development in relation to inclusion and belonging. Most recently, my senior leadership team and I had the privilege of joining the fantastic Northern Pride and Curious Arts for a training session on allyship where we learned about what more we can do to support our LGBTQIA+ colleagues so that they can thrive at work.
Looking to the future, we know that hydrogen can be a key enabler of accelerated decarbonisation for industry, transport and heat, reducing reliance on fossil fuels and shoring up energy security. Over the last 12 months we’ve continued to work with our partners to understand what’s required to ready our infrastructure and support a fair transition to net zero.
I’m incredibly proud of what our colleagues, partners, and supply chain have accomplished this year. Their dedication has built strong momentum toward achieving our 2050 commitments set out in our People & Planet Strategy, and I look forward to continuing to work together to achieve a fairer and greener future for all.
Mark Horsley Chief Executive Officer Northern Gas Networks
During 2024 we have continued our journey to deliver on our ambitious People and Planet Strategy. We have achieved excellent performance in gas leakage reduction, our biggest single greenhouse gas emission, and diverting waste from landfill.
Our tree planting programme to tackle poor urban air quality in our region is also providing particularly pleasing results. Safety is key to our culture and we continue to work to very high standards of customer and operational safety. Our social programme is delivering wide-ranging benefits to our stakeholders, in particular our most vulnerable communities in our region. We have also continued to develop and embed our approach to diversity and inclusion within our organisation.
Our People and Planet Strategy was informed by our stakeholders and is consciously ambitious. Achieving our commitments remains challenging but we believe they can be achieved through innovation, collaboration and long term thinking to the long term benefit our stakeholders and region.
Our customers tell us that sustainability remains a high priority to them, despite the cost-of-living crisis and other pressures. In collaboration with our partners we work hard every day to meet this expectation.
Neil Whalley Head of Environment and Sustainability Northern Gas Networks
