Owen Anderson, head of sustainability, OVO - Credit: BusinessGreen
PARTNER INSIGHT: Energy giant doubles down on net zero target with plan to reduce reliance on offsets and increase investment in home energy efficiency
Energy company OVO has reaffirmed its commitment to reaching "True Net Zero" by 2035 with the launch of an updated version of its Plan Zero roadmap, which confirms its intention to limit the use of carbon offsetting to just 10 per cent of its total emissions.
The company said it would only use carbon offsets when absolutely necessary for any emissions it cannot reduce or avoid, instead promising to reach its net zero by 2035 targets predominantly through efforts to source renewable power and help customers decarbonise their homes.
As such, the updated decarbonisation pathway confirms plans for additional energy efficiency services and products designed to eliminate carbon emissions from customer's homes and vehicles as part of its ‘Path to Zero' offering.
"In order to achieve True Net Zero for everybody, we need to do more to stop carbon at its source," said OVO's head of sustainability, Owen Anderson. "Our focus is, and always should be absolute atmospheric decarbonisation.
"True Net Zero means getting more renewables on the grid, electrifying heat and transport, and ending reliance on offsetting. We hope that this will become standard practice for businesses globally."
OVO also today confirmed it has more than halved operational emissions and cut its total carbon footprint by 36 per cent since 2018 - with the majority of its offices now 100 per cent powered by renewable energy.
Moreover, it shifted 71,000 kWh of power demand from customers to greener times of the day through its Power Moves initiative in 2022, rewarding customers with payments worth almost £150,000 in total.
Similarly, between January and July 2023 electric car owners on OVO's Charge Anytime rate saved £1m and prevented 33 tonnes of carbon emissions - the same as driving the length of the UK 144 times.
The launch of the latest Plan Zero report was previewed by Anderson on day two of the Net Zero Festival yesterday, where he stressed that while the clean technologies needed to decarbonise UK homes already exist, more work needed to be done to tackle the cost barriers that mean such technologies are not available to all customers.
Anderson said OVO was working to make clean technologies the "no brainer" option for customers, but ensuring green products and services are as affordable and accessible as possible.
"We've got an abundance of renewable energy in the UK," he said. "We have lots of tried and tested technologies. And we've actually had for a really long time. We want to make sure that all of our customers have access to these technologies because the UK's domestic decarbonization is one of the biggest challenges to net zero. Every customer and every home is different."
Anderson said the combination of the huge variation in the UK housing stock and the cost of living crisis had made decarbonisation challenging for some households.
As such, he highlighted how OVO's aim is to become a "zero carbon living partner" for its customers, whereby a range of tariffs and services, such as it Charge Anytime and Heat Pump Plus offers, can help customers curb their bills while deploying clean technologies.
However, OVO is also calling for a number of policy interventions to help support domestic decarbonisation for low-income households, including the introduction of social tariffs and the removal of the standing charge to make energy more affordable for those who need it most.
OVO was the headline partner at the Net Zero Festival 2023
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