National Grid CSO Q&A: Energy’s Role in Decarbonisation

Energy is at the heart of many global sustainability initiatives, both for individuals, companies, organisations and nationally. Energy companies – such as National Grid – are crucial to decarbonisation and the global effort to align with the Paris Agreement. 

As Chief Sustainability Officer, Rhian Kelly oversees all National Grid’s sustainability activities. This includes setting strategic objectives around reducing emissions and investing in the communities National Grid serves as well as creating internal alignment and external understanding of what National Grid is doing, including disclosures.

Rhian joined National Grid in 2017 to lead the UK & EU Public Affairs and Policy team, managing senior relationships across Whitehall and Westminster on strategic issues like Brexit, nationalisation and transport and heat decarbonisation. 

Before joining National Grid, Rhian was the Director of Infrastructure at the CBI, spearheading its campaigns to boost investment in infrastructure, the low-carbon economy and construction. She joined the CBI in 2006, helping to deliver the CBI’s ground-breaking report on climate change in 2007, which transformed the role businesses can play in the low-carbon economy.

Rhian shares her expertise with Sustainability Magazine. 

What lessons can National Grid share with other organisations who want to be sustainability leaders? 

I’d start by saying you need to identify the areas of sustainability in which your organisation currently excels or where your business operations make you best placed to take action. Think about what your USP is, and how that translates into sustainability. Materiality assessments help with this!

I would also say what you measure you manage so it is important to set targets. I have found that once you have commitments with targets, this creates focus and from that this is easier to drive meaningful action. 

It is then also important to track progress against these commitments and targets. At National Grid, we publish our progress against our sustainability commitments annually in our Responsible Business Report. Not only does this publicly hold us to account on our commitments, but it also provides us with an opportunity to share case studies and learning on the steps we have taken and the measures we have introduced as part of being a responsible business.   

What’s the role of the energy sector in delivering decarbonisation? 

The sector is absolutely critical. It’s our collective job to generate clean energy and then take that energy from where it’s generated – increasingly out at sea – to where it’s needed in homes and businesses right across the UK. By doing this, we enable the decarbonisation of the wider economy. 

Without the changes to the Grid that we’re making, it will be difficult for people to access green energy in the future. To explain why this is important and why it’s critical that it happens, National Grid has launched The Great Grid Upgrade. 

Of course, at National Grid, we also have to reduce our own impact on the environment, and have set near-term 1.5 degree aligned emissions targets, which have been validated by the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi).

Tell us about the most interesting part of your role 

I have been working on climate change and the energy transition for most of my career, and what I find most interesting about my current role is the significant impact I can make on both National Grid and the wider world. I find it really motivating to be working on one of the most challenging issues of our time, in an organisation that has such an important role to play across the economies where we operate – the UK and the North East USA. It’s also fascinating to be able to work in both geographies. 

I also love the cross-functional nature of the work I do. I get to work with colleagues right across the business on workforce development, sustainable procurement, how we manage our fleet and buildings, what we do to support our most vulnerable customers with the energy transition, what new technologies are developing which we can deploy in our business, and so on. This makes every day different and keeps me on my toes!

What does being a successful Chief Sustainability Officer mean to you? 

One of the ultimate goals for any CSO should be to ensure that sustainability is not seen as merely an add-on to a company's core activities, but is fully integrated into its strategic priorities. I’m very lucky that at National Grid this is the case. It makes my job easier and means I can turn my attention to ensuring sustainability is fully embedded in every part of the business, in everything we do. 

Being a successful CSO is also about how we show up. I firmly believe that to be a successful CSO you need to be pragmatic, resilient, collaborative and patient. 

The industry talks a lot about a fair transition, how does the energy sector think about this? 

There’s no universally agreed upon definition of what a “fair transition” means, but for National Grid, the concept starts with the idea that we need to play our part in helping to ensure no one in our communities is left behind as we transition to a clean energy future, with everyone, regardless of their income, background or where they live able to share in the benefits of this transition. 

There is no doubt this is going to be hard. Much of this is out of our control, but we can take action in the communities we serve, and we can advocate for action by parties that have a broader influence, such as governments and regulators. 

At National Grid, a key part of making this a fair transition is the role we play in facilitating the wider decarbonisation of the economy. We need to grow our networks, and this means our workforce will have to grow. Another key aspect of the fair transition for us is retraining our employees and ensuring we bring in the skilled, diverse workforce, particularly from underrepresented groups, needed to grow our energy networks and interconnections, support the development of energy technologies, and digitisation of the way we work.

What’s the role of innovation in sustainability?

Embracing innovation is crucial. It will be impossible for any organisation to address the scale of the challenges in this space by maintaining business as usual. Put simply, the UK won’t decarbonise by doing things the way they have always been done. We need to be bold and brave.

Utilising and deploying innovative technological solutions is a key part of National Grid’s approach to sustainability, especially when it comes to thinking about how we can reduce the impact of our operations on the natural environment. In the previous financial year, we invested £39.7m in National Grid Partners, our US-based Venture Capital business, on emerging technologies/research and development. One of the technologies that NGP has invested in, LineVision, is now being deployed in our New York business to increase grid capacity. We have also deployed NGP investments to support the management of our impact on the natural environment. 

Considering the broad scope of sustainability, how does National Grid determine which areas to prioritise when developing its sustainability strategy?

The first step for National Grid in deciding which areas to prioritise was to conduct a full sustainability materiality assessment. This enabled us to identify the most important topics for key stakeholders (Investors, Colleagues, Customers, Contractors and Suppliers, Communities, Governments and Regulators).

As part of this assessment, we were able to agree on a list of the most important impacts. These impacts were then grouped under three pillars set out in our Responsible Business Charter (our environment, our customers, and communities and our people) as part of the prioritisation process. We had less material areas in our second materiality assessment and I suspect the list will reduce further when we next do it again. 

Stakeholder engagement was integral throughout the process, with a particular focus on working to engage with stakeholders groups who may have traditionally been underrepresented with the aim of amplifying their voices.  

We also included financial materiality into our assessment, to ensure so-called double materiality. 

******

Make sure you check out the latest edition of Sustainability Magazine and also sign up to our global conference series - Sustainability LIVE 2024

******

Sustainability Magazine is a BizClik brand

******