Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | JANUARY 2022 | 29 Business transformation their organisations have sustained budgets and allocation of resources for decarbonisa- tion initiatives throughout the pandemic. This suggests that while funding is available, it may not be su cient for the scale of the challenge. Lessons to be learnt One of the key aims of the research was to nd out whether utility leaders thought there was potential to apply lessons from the net- zero response to other aspects of business transformation, so it was encouraging to see that well over half of respondents recognised scope for this. Unpacking this response in a little more detail, the most obvious area where the net-zero carbon experience could help utili- ties up their game was in relation to wider environmental stewardship. However, many respondents also said they felt their organi- sational response to a clear decarbonisation imperative could be used as a model for more concerted campaigns on issues such as leakage, supply interruptions, and time-to- x asset or customer issues. The key areas where respondents said they saw the scope for lessons learnt were in the way decarbonisation has brought cross- functional focus around a common goal and the way it has inspired collaboration, both internally and with a multitude of external stakeholders. Further insight into the survey results, including approaches to decarbonisation, the way this links to wider business change and sub-sector speci c concerns about cli- mate-related threats to resilience are covered in the later chapters of the report. in association with In association with R E S E A R C H R E P O R T Beyond zero carbon: the bigger picture for transformation and adaptation ahead of utilities In this report Foreword p2 Introduction p3 Utilities' carbon commitments p6 Lessons for business transformation p11 Sector resilience threats and responses Energy retail p15 Energy networks p18 Water companies p22 Conclusions p26 As utilities mobilise to fulfil an essential role in the UK's mission to decarbonise by 2050, this research report explores the scope for the net zero carbon experience to provide a model for urgent and ambitious transformation in other essential business areas Download the report Download the report Beyond Zero Carbon: Lessons in Business Transformation free at: https://utilityweek. co.uk/beyond-zero-carbon- lessons-learned-for-business- transformation/ 5 Enormous potential 4 3 2 1 No potential at all 16.7% 31.5% 1.9% 48.1% 33.3% 16.7% 50% 14.3% 19% 4.8% 61.9% 13.6% 50% 4.5% 31.8% Overall Energy Retailers Energy Networks Water Companies 1.9% The data presented has been rounded to the nearest decimal number. Quotes from the report "Companies need to think more consistently about how they can make the most eff ective push on getting customers to reduce consumption." John Russell, senior director of strategy and planning, Ofwat "There's a real worry from retailers on the strategy [for the government's retail market reform] that is being pushed. I don't think we'll get a vision that's ambitious enough, and in some cases it is absolutely backwards." Audrey Gallagher, deputy chief executive, Energy•UK "We believe that the funding we obtained was restrictive, we even published numbers to say that much more carbon will be released in the environment as a result of the funding being not released." Shuchi Nagar, head of architecture, SGN "The cyber threat keeps me awake at night – if anyone running a sizeable business with a sizeable customer base is not worried about cyber then they don't know enough about it." Peter Emery, CEO, Electricity North West "There are lots of ideas and innovation happening to try and improve performance on leakage. But still, fundamentally it's a lot of hardwork." Laura Flowerdew, deputy CEO, Bristol Water Could your organisation derive lessons from its response to the net-zero carbon agenda to improve its responses to other drivers of business change? % potential to use learnings from its response to the net-zero challenge

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