Building strong partnerships for sustainability
We believe that collaboration is key to tackling environmental and societal challenges. By working together, we can achieve more than we could alone.
Global sustainability commitments
- United Nations Global Compact (Since 2018) – Aligning with ten principles for corporate sustainability.
- Race to Zero (Since 2020) – Taking action to halve global emissions by 2030.
Business sustainability partnerships and initiatives
- Living Wage Foundation (Since 2013) – We became one of the first companies to be accredited for the real Living Wage, Living Hours, and Living Pensions in 2023. We have paid the real Living Wage in the UK since 2013, and paid the Living Wage in Ireland since 2016.
- Fair Tax Mark (Since 2015) – Recognised for paying fair taxes in the right place, at the right time.
- Business in the Community Ireland (Since 2017) – Supporting sustainable business practices and industry collaboration.
- Institute of Business Ethics (Since 2014) – Promoting ethical business practices.
Partnerships with commitments to inclusion
- Social Mobility Pledge – Addressing outreach, access, recruitment, and progression.
- Elevate Pledge – Creating inclusive workplaces through workforce data insights.
- Skills Accord – Strengthening skills training in the energy and utilities sector.
- POWERful Women (Since 2019) – Advocating for gender diversity in the energy sector. Our Chief Executive was the 2024 Chair of POWERful Women’s Energy Leaders Coalition.
- Tech She Can (Since 2020) – Inspiring and educating women to pursue technology careers.
Partnerships with commitments to climate action
- Accelerate Pact – Driving climate transition plans across nine key areas, including decarbonisation and just transition.
- EP100 – Doubling energy productivity in offices and depots by 2030, aiming for net-zero non-operational buildings by 2035.
- EV100 – Transitioning company fleets to electric vehicles and expanding charging infrastructure by 2030.
Powering Net Zero Pact
The Pact
The Powering Net Zero Pact (‘the Pact’) is an initiative created by SSE with 10 other founding partners as a legacy of COP26.
It brings together different companies across all tiers of the power sector – including civils, shipping, renewables, electrical engineering and others – that are committed to a fair and just transition to net zero carbon emissions.
Together, signatories of the Pact operate across more than 120 countries, have a combined annual turnover of more than £75bn, are responsible for the livelihoods of over 350,000 employees, and work with more than 170,000 suppliers globally.
Five areas of ambition
The Pact includes five areas of ambition, five shared commitments and five topics for collaboration, which together encourage the delivery of common ambitions for a sustainable future.
- Achieve net zero carbon emissions - work towards science-based carbon targets, aligned to 1.5 degrees by 2025* and develop understanding and quantification of scope 3 carbon emissions.
- Protect and enhance the natural environment - by 2025, publicly disclose wider environment metrics, including water use, air quality and biodiversity, recognising the importance of the wider natural environment in getting to net zero. Share approaches to managing, protecting and enhancing biodiversity, with the aim of developing a framework for achieving biodiversity net gain.
- Transition to a circular economy - By 2025, set a waste reduction target through the incorporation of circularity and develop innovative products and construction methods to increase resource efficiency and design out waste.
- Guarantee fair work and sustainable jobs - Develop a targeted, modern slavery and human rights abuse risk-based approach across global supply chains. Create a roadmap for the skills needed for net zero and guarantee fair work standards:
- Aim to prevent all life-changing safety incidents
- Work towards paying all workers at least a real Living Wage and acknowledge the right to freedom of association for all workers
- Recognise the importance of greater inclusion and diversity, with targets publicly disclosed by 2025
- Implement a robust approach to good business ethics with clear channels for speaking up against wrongdoing
- Add value to local communities - Identify and commit to common responsible developer, constructor, and operator principles by 2025 and develop and nurture competitive, local supply chains close to assets.
*Where companies face significant technological and methodological challenges for setting SBTs, a commitment to working towards SBTs with an annual update on progress will be accepted.
Underpinned by a shared strategic approach
- Business strategies aligned to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
- Sustainability questions included in tenders and sustainability requirements rolled out through supply chains.
- Annual meeting of signatories to review commitments and continue ambitious progress.
Joining the pact and founding partners
If your organisation wants to be involved in driving forward a just energy transition to net zero, then there are just a few simple requirements for Powering Net Zero Pact signatories:
- You are involved in some part of the power sector (it doesn’t matter which part);
- You meet all five of the shared commitments and;
- You are willing to participate in an action-focused working group for at least one of the five collaboration topics.
To get involved, contact poweringnetzeropact@sse.com.
Founding partners:
- SSE plc
- Hitachi Energy
- Balfour Beatty
- Vestas
- Siemens Gamesa
- NKT
- Siemens Energy
- Subsea 7
- RJ McLeod
- GE Renewable Energy
- DEME group