Britain’s National Grid to cut scope 3 emissions by 20% by 2030

LONDON (Reuters) - National Grid <NG.L> on Thursday pledged to cut its scope 3 emissions by 20% by 2030, which will see it reduce emissions relating to the gas and electricity it sells in markets such as the United States and Britain.

Many companies have announced targets to help combat climate change with scope 3 emissions -- which include all indirect emissions from sources the company does not control or own, such as those generated by people using its products -- often the hardest to curb.

"Since 1990, we’ve reduced our direct (Scope 1 and 2) emissions by 70%... But there is much more we can do and that’s why we’re setting ourselves more ambitious targets," National Grid CEO John Pettigrew said in a statement.

National Grid’s scope 3 emissions were almost 30 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) for the 2019/2020 financial year, meaning the scope 3 target would lead to a cut of almost 5 million tonnes of CO2e a year.

The company said it would move to a 100% electric fleet for its light vehicles by 2030 and reduce its annual airmiles by at least 50% from 2019 levels, offsetting any emissions it cannot cut.

Other initiatives include helping customers to become more energy efficient and switch away from the most polluting fuels for home heating such as oil.

The company's scope 1 and 2 emissions were 6.4 million tonnes of CO2e in 2019/20.

(Reporting by Susanna Twidale; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)