Sustainability LIVE: Net Zero - Energy Transition Keynote
Speaking at Sustainability LIVE: Net Zero, Rhian Kelly, Chief Sustainability Officer at National Grid, discusses enabling the clean, fair and affordable energy transition.
Rhian explains the role of National Grid in energy supply in the UK.
She says: “You’ve probably all heard of National Grid but you might not know what we do.
“We own all the pylons that you'll see in England and Wales, we transport electricity across the country, into people's homes and businesses.
“We also own some of the wooden poles you’ll see in the East Midlands, the West Midlands, South Wales and down in the South West where we put electricity in directly.”
National Grid’s Responsible Business Charter
In 2020, National Grid launched its Responsible Business Charter to align with the evolving demands of the transition to clean energy. The company refreshed its charter in 2023 to match its changing emissions portfolio.
Rhian says: “We set out what responsibility means for us as a business, the role that we thought we could play and the commitments that we would make to demonstrate how we're going to play our part in this.
“We want to be an organisation that's about more than just profits. We want to be about helping the transition, helping our customers through the transition and playing our part in reducing our impact on the environment.”
National Grid’s ESG goals
The company is committed to reaching net zero by 2050 and halting global warming in alignment with the Paris Agreement and its Scope 1 and 2 goals for 2030. Rhian explains while this is important, ESG as a whole plays an important role in a fair energy transition.
She says: “One of my mottos has become ‘don't forget the S in ESG’.
“I feel it's really easy when we get together to talk about sustainability, to talk about the environment, talk about emissions and increasingly to talk about nature.
“What we decided to do was put £65m (US$85m) worth of shareholder money into an energy support fund to help with the immediate cost of living crisis.”
Essential diary dates for 2024 and 2025…
Sustainability LIVE continues to expand its events with more to come in 2024 and 2025, discover our essential diary dates below.
2024 diary dates:
- Sustainability LIVE London | 10-11 September 2024
- Sustainability & ESG Awards | 10 September 2024
- Sustainability LIVE: Climate Week NYC | 24 September 2024
- Sustainability LIVE Malta | 17 October 2024
- Sustainability LIVE: Diversity & Inclusion | 12 November 2024
- NEW | The CSO Network
- NEW | ClimateTech Magazine
- NEW | Scope3 Magazine
- NEW | Diversity Magazine
2025 diary dates:
- Sustainability LIVE: Net Zero | 5-6 March 2025
- Sustainability LIVE Singapore | 18 March 2025
- Sustainability LIVE Dubai | 22 April 2025
- Sustainability LIVE Chicago | 4-5 June 2025
- Sustainability LIVE London | 9-10 September 2025
- Sustainability & ESG Awards | 10 September 2025
- Sustainability LIVE: DE&I | 11 November 2025
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