United Utilities Group PLC owns United Utilities Water, the regulated water and sewerage company for North West England.
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United Utilities' 2025/26 market-based Scope 1 and 2 emissions were 539,041 tCO2e, including 239,498 tCO2e added by a 2026 industry update to process-emission factors. On the previous method they rose from 124,418 to 299,543 tCO2e, mainly because all 707 GWh of purchased grid electricity moved to a standard tariff. Scope 3 was 590,950 tCO2e, 36.8% above its 2019/20 baseline against a 25% reduction target, and the company has met two of its four original near-term SBTi targets. The Environment Agency rated it 2 stars for 2024, down from 4, with 347 sewerage pollution incidents. In June 2026 the Environment Agency secured £517,000 through an enforcement undertaking over discharges into the River Tame.
United Utilities scores 47/100 (Making progress) on SINK's independent climate assessment, scored from public data only. Fees pay for the review, never the result. Last verified October 2026.
That places United Utilities joint 217th of 847 companies scored, and 3rd of 11 in Water & Sewerage.
Where United Utilities sits among water & sewerage peers.
Among the 11 major water & sewerage brands we've scored, United Utilities sits 3rd of 11.
Its three lowest-scoring questions, and what the evidence didn't show.
Location-based Scope 1+2 fell 13% below 2019/20 baseline, but Scope 3 rose from 435,343 to 533,078 tCO2e.
The full reasoning is in the ten questions below.
The full reasoning is in the ten questions below.
A score changes when the evidence does. We use new published evidence at the next rescore. Evidence that isn't public can count through an evidence review.
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Get in touch →Strongest on Carbon Footprint — Operations and Transparency & Accountability (8/10, 8/10). Weakest on Emissions Trajectory and Water Impact (2/10, 3/10).
The 2 companies in the sector scoring nearest above United Utilities.
Severn Trent's 2025/26 Scope 1 emissions were 384,205 tCO2e under a company-revised method for process emissions; under the industry-standard method they would be 526,222 tCO2e, and its assurer flagged an elevated reporting risk on the change.
See the breakdown →Pennon group Scope 1 and 2 emissions, assured by Jacobs, fell about 4% in 2025/26, mainly because more renewable electricity was bought for the Bristol Water region, and South West Water's electricity is backed by renewable energy certificates.
See the breakdown →United Utilities's score has moved from 58 to 47 across 3 recorded reviews, down 11 points.
Moved from Energy Supply / Utilities to the new Water & Sewerage sector (base 40) under methodology v2.5.12: 56 → 47.
Aggregator sweep, source-fix pass: dead cited URLs re-sourced and broker citations replaced with primaries; re-scored under pinned code 9196601.
Initial public score 58 (publish-draft)
The formula and all 9 sources.
Same ten questions for every company. No private weighting.
SINK = (0.3 × Base + 0.7 × Performance) × Scale9 sources used in this assessment. All publicly available. Each row shows which of the ten questions it informed.
Re-scored 56 → 47 in October 2026 after moving from Energy Supply / Utilities to the new Water & Sewerage sector (base 40) under methodology v2.5.12.
“Market-based 539,041 299,543 124,418 134,239 133,757”
“Our GHG inventory, including all the underlying energy data, has undergone independent third-party verification by Achilles Group”
“Market-based 539,041 299,543 124,418 134,239 133,757”
“45 sewerage pollution incidents per 10,000km of sewer – this is rated as red”
“The Environment Agency (EA) has secured £517,000 from United Utilities after three permit breaches led to a substantial amount of sewage being discharged into the River Tame.”
“Annual Report and Financial Statements (ARFS) for the year ended 31 March 2026”
If you believe a source has been misread or a newer version exists, submit a challenge.
United Utilities Group PLC owns United Utilities Water, the regulated water and sewerage company for North West England. The group was incorporated in 2008 and its registered office is in Warrington. Its filed accounts for the year to 31 March 2026 report revenue of £2,616.3m and an average of 6,807 full-time-equivalent staff, and it holds natural capital accounts for over 56,000 hectares of owned land. It is regulated by Ofwat and the Environment Agency.
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