Water Plus adds greener power to their Net Zero ambition with electric bike and electric car roll-outs

The UK’s largest water retailer is launching greener transport options for their employees including bicycles, e-bikes and electric vehicles to help health, wellbeing – and reducing impacts on the environment too

Employees at Water Plus can now apply to get a traditional bicycle, an e-bike, cycling kit or a combination of these, under the salary sacrifice approach. The initiative sees employees get discounts on the cost of these.

An electric car initiative has also been announced this year and is being rolled out at the business.

These are two additional actions the water retailer is taking to reduce carbon emissions – and encourage sustainable transport methods by employees.

The company has also recently been shortlisted for four National Sustainability Awards in 2022, for the first time, including one around helping organisations manage water use and around approaches to encourage carbon emissions reduction. It was also shortlisted in the Water Industry Awards 2022 for Water Retailer of the Year, Water Efficiency Project of the Year and Skills and Workforce Initiative of the Year.

Andy Hughes, Chief Executive of Water Plus, said: “Under our Net Zero ambition we’re taking a number of steps to help reduce the impact we can all have on the environment and the electric bike and electric vehicle initiatives will help our employees – and support progress towards Net Zero.

“Cycling is a real positive for healthy living, mental health and wellbeing, which builds on the range of resources we have to support all our employees. It’s also great for the environment. Taking shorter car journeys, using electric vehicles – or switching to walking or cycling – creates less noise, less air pollution, and results in fewer emissions overall, so it really is a win-win.

“As it’s a salary sacrifice scheme, it means employees pay via monthly payments, taken tax efficiently from their salary, which means they get the maximum tax and National Insurance savings too.”

The electric bicycle and Cycle to Work rolled out earlier this year and all the 500+ employees at the company are receiving communications around more environmentally friendly steps to take and how to reduce impacts on the planet.

A large tree-planting initiative involving an extra 500 trees in the UK is also continuing this year after Water Plus, which has a base in Glasgow and one in Staffordshire, started increasing green coverage across England and Scotland in 2020. Suggestions for UK planting sites can be made by emailing [email protected] .

Brief details on how planting would benefit the area should be included in emails, which should have the subject heading #NominateforTrees. Water Plus will review all suggestions.

Renewable energy projects have also been supported by Water Plus in 2022, including hydro power and a solar panel farm, which have prevented 500 tonnes of emissions.

Water Plus is also ranked in the top 30% of companies across the world for its approach around Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The EcoVadis sustainability rating looks at the integration of CSR principles in an organisation and focuses on 21 issues, which are grouped into 4 themes: Environment (ENV), Labour Practices & Human Rights (LAB), Fair Business Practices (FBP), and Sustainable Procurement (SUP). 2022 is the fourth year running the water retailer has secured an EcoVadis rating.

Under its Cleaner Climate Promise, Water Plus is now a Green World Ambassador as part of work to encourage more action by others to increase water efficiency and help reduce impacts on the environment.

Here’s some of the staff taking up Cycle to Work so far:

Dean Hall, an IT Test Engineer with Water Plus, lives 5 miles from the company’s main office in Staffordshire and is using the bicycle he received on the Cycle to Work initiative. He said: “In the last week I’ve used my bicycle every day I’ve been in the office – and I’ve got waterproofs for when the weather changes more. Using a bicycle during my journey to and from work saves me time travelling and saves me money too. I’ll be using it each day I need it for my journey to and from work – and would definitely encourage others to join the initiative.”

Helen Murphy, a Key Account Manager with Water Plus who is based in Scotland, signed up for the Cycle to Work initiative, said: “I’d been thinking about buying a bike for a wee while and so it was great to take advantage of the cycle to work scheme. I plan to use my bike to cycle to customer meetings, if they are not too far away and also to get to the train station to go over to our office in Bellshill, Glasgow, and avoid the M8 motorway.”

Additional notes

A drive to plant 500 more trees in the UK started in February 2022 with two schools, one in England and one in Scotland, receiving some of the first of these. It follows Water Plus supporting 150 extra trees for communities and schools in 2020, supporting the creation of 2,023 square metres of new UK woodland in 2021 and 50 new fruit trees in Stoke-on-Trent communities, to increase green canopies.

More on the 2022 tree-planting and action being taken by Water Plus is here: www.water-plus.co.uk/about-us/corporate-social-responsibility-sustainability/

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