United Utilities Group PLC

The Trustee has ultimate responsibility for ensuring effective governance of climate-related risks and opportunities. The Trustee maintains an Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Policy which sets out our approach to climate change, along with other ESG considerations. [...] The Trustee maintains oversight of climate-related risks and opportunities by: - Ensuring that the Trustee Board has sufficient knowledge and understanding of climate change to fulfil its statutory and fiduciary obligations and keeps this knowledge and understanding up to date. - Putting in place climate governance arrangements, and ensuring they remain appropriate and effective. This includes the maintenance of the ESG Policy. - Identifying and assessing climate-related risks and incorporating these in the Scheme's Risk Register, along with appropriate controls. - In respect of the DB Section, considering how climate-related risks and opportunities might affect the Scheme's funding position over the short, medium and long term, and ensuring that climate factors are taken into account in any strategic decisions relating to the funding arrangements. - Ensuring that the investment, actuarial, covenant, and legal advisers, and the bulk annuity insurer, have clearly defined responsibilities in respect of climate change, and that they have adequate expertise and resources, including time and staff, to carry these out. - Setting strategic objectives for the investment adviser, and reviewing annually performance against these objectives. This activity takes place primarily through the Investment Sub-Committee and DC Sub-Committee (see below) but is also considered by the Trustee Board annually. - Communicating with Scheme members and other stakeholders on climate change, including public reporting (for example, the publication of the Chair's Statement, Implementation Statement, and SIP). [...] The ISC oversees the Scheme's DB investments. Its role includes the following in relation to climate change: - Incorporating climate-related considerations into strategic decisions relating to the investments. This includes considering climate scenario analysis for the DB Section. - Ensuring that the investment managers are managing climate-related risks and opportunities in relation to the Scheme's investments, and have appropriate processes, expertise and resources to do this effectively. This includes meeting at least annually with each investment manager to discuss the Scheme's investments. These meetings include discussions regarding the integration of climate change considerations in the investment manager's process and portfolio. - Selecting and regularly reviewing metrics for the DB Section to inform the identification, assessment and management of climate-related risks and opportunities, and monitoring targets to track and seek to improve these metrics over time where appropriate (target setting responsibility sits with the full Trustee Board, supported by the Investment Sub-Committee). - Working with advisers to identify new and emerging risks and opportunities in relation to climate change. [...] The ESG Sub-Group's remit includes: - Overseeing the timeline and deadlines associated with climate change reporting. - Co-ordinating the four strands of TCFD reporting (governance, strategy, risk management, metrics & targets) to ensure that each aspect is addressed by the appropriate Sub-Committee or the Board. - Ensuring consistency, where appropriate, in the approach taken on ESG matters across various pension arrangements within the United Utilities Group. - Maintaining a training and development programme relating to climate change and other ESG issues. - Identifying risks, issues, opportunities, agenda points, training needs, and opportunities to be addressed by the Scheme's Sub-Committees or the Board. For the avoidance of doubt, the ESG Sub-Group is not expected to make decisions on Scheme policies, investment strategy, or governance arrangements but will make recommendations to the appropriate executive committee from time to time.

Attach commitment or position statement(s)[…]We are a signatory / have made commitments to the
- We Mean Business coalition
- UN Race to Zero and
- Business Ambition for 1.5°C

We have made a commitment to a long term science based target aligned to the "Paris Agreement's ambition to limit global warming to 1.5deg C". (See pages 47 and 94 of our 2022 annual report)

We are also part of Water UK - the trade group for UK water companies and were involved in the development and publishing of the Net Zero 2030 Routemap for a subset of our operational emissions. One of the key principles of the routemap was to be align with the principles of the Paris Agreement. (see attached)

Describe the process(es) your organization has in place to ensure that your engagement activities are consistent with your overall climate change strategy[…]Within our Environment Planning and Innovation directorate we have a dedicated carbon team whose objective is to develop and drive our climate change mitigation strategy. This strategy has 4 pillars, Vision and Visibility, Ambition and Commitment, Demonstrating Action and Beyond Here and Now.
The strategy is overseen by the climate change mitigation steering group. In 2021/22, we held two deep dive workshops with our executive team to build knowledge and awareness of carbon and explore how we will meet our strategic objectives. This resulted in a refresh of our climate change mitigation governance and the creation of new director-led working groups. One of these groups is specifically tasked with managing and improving our climate related strategy and engagement.