Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment (a) his Department and (b) its arms length bodies have made of the potential impact of the Water Industry National Environment Programme on carbon emissions.

Ofwat published their final determinations for Price Review 2024 (PR24) on 19 December, which included a confirmed £104 billion of water company expenditure between 2025 and 2030. £24 billion will be invested to improve the environment and Ofwat have confirmed this will put the sector on track to meet net zero targets by 2050.

For the period between 2025-2030, Ofwat have provided percentage estimates of the emissions reductions water companies are expected to deliver. These can be found within Ofwat's publicly available PR24 company specific documents available on their website: Final determinations in the 2024 price review - Ofwat. Water companies will report on the emission reductions from schemes, using real time data to demonstrate the impact.

Ofwat have also introduced price control deliverables (PCDs) for PR24 – a financial incentive mechanism to incentivise companies to deliver projects on time, and if projects are not delivered, funding is returned to customers. This includes a PCD on climate change resilience to incentivise delivery by companies.