Icon Water reveals eMission Possible Plan for Race to Net Zero

As part of our commitment to the United Nations Race to Net Zero campaign and as a climate-conscious business, we have released our eMission Possible Plan. This plan is Icon Water’s pathway to net zero emissions by 2045 and outlines the work we are doing to reducing our contribution to climate change.  

We see the urgent need to reach net zero emissions and understand our responsibility in making this a reality. This vision is shared by Canberrans as we have discovered during our Let’s Talk Water and Wastewater engagement program. Members of our community said they ‘support Icon Water accelerating towards net zero and achieving greater environmental sustainability while limiting impacts on customer prices.’  

The ACT community also said they have a sense of pride in Canberra being an ‘innovator’, with a majority of the Let’s Talk program forum participants saying they support Icon Water shifting from ‘supporting’ to ‘driving’ innovation. We also share this value and by releasing this plan, we commit to cementing our place as an innovator in climate action for the sector as we work towards a more sustainable future.  

“As a water utility provider, much of what we do relies on our environment being clean and healthy. As such, we have always been invested in developing ways to reduce our environmental footprint. This plan puts in place a pathway that focuses on tackling our carbon footprint and supports our commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and Race to Zero,” said Icon Water Manager Environment and Sustainability Benjamin Bryant.  

Through our hydro and solar installations, energy initiatives, and the ACT achieving 100% renewable electricity, we have reduced our greenhouse gas emissions by 50% from the levels recorded in 1990. In 2021, Icon Water was generating a little over 1% of the ACT’s total emissions. Our wastewater treatment represents a major proportion of our greenhouse gas emissions, with almost 70% of those emissions coming from fugitive nitrous oxide and methane gases, which are a challenge for the whole water industry. In order to better understand the impact of these emissions and identify better ways to control them, we are taking steps to improve the way we measure emissions with a research and development collaboration with the University of Queensland and peer utilities. This will further help the industry as a whole to develop new and economically viable ways of controlling our emissions footprint.  
 

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