Robin Phillips, who’s worked for Severn Trent Services for over 25 years, is the organisation’s first Head of Sustainability.
Robin, who starts his new appointment today, is tasked with helping to accelerate the company’s response to climate change and supporting customers to do the same.
He explained: “We’ve always strived to run an efficient and sustainable business that cares deeply about the long-term impacts of what we do. But as everybody knows, the requirement to reduce carbon emissions and adapt to climate change is now urgent.”
A shared appetite for change
The announcement has come at the perfect time as employees and customers are increasingly looking to the organisation to lead the way when it comes to sustainability.
In fact, today, Severn Trent employees have launched Carbon Week – an internal initiative dedicated to communicating goals, sharing success stories, and being clear about how every employee can play their part.
Robin said: “Individually, as a company, and as a group we have an appetite to make an even bigger difference. Our existing and new customers are also looking to reduce their impact on the environment even further. And because we’ve already started to adopt sustainable ways of working, we’re ideally placed to help others do the same.”
Why Robin is suited to sustainability
At home, Robin has always recycled what he could, chosen to fix and repair things rather than replace them, harvested rainwater via water butts in his garden, and committed to drive a low emissions car.
But at work, it was Severn Trent’s triple pledge announcement – made over two years ago – that was the lightbulb moment for Robin.
Severn Trent Group has pledged to do three things by 2030: net zero emissions, 100% energy from renewable sources, and a 100% electric fleet.
Robin said: “That’s when I began to realise that as water and wastewater experts, we’d already developed many capabilities in sustainability. For example, when we design, install, and operate assets, we do so in a least cost, least carbon way.
“It was then that I became aware of the opportunities for us to lean in and show our customers what we already do for them and what else is possible.”
Mike Williamson, managing director of Severn Trent Services, said: “Robin is the best person to lead our sustainability agenda. His passion and knowledge of our business is incomparable.
“He’s a strategic-thinker, able to anticipate how our actions today can shape the future. He’s also great at holding a mirror up to our organisation and our customers – allowing us to reflect upon our own environmental performance and what more we can do.”
Examples of sustainability actions taken by Severn Trent Services
- Industry leading leakage performance on key contracts
- The launch of Oren Environmental offering reed bed maintenance services to help promote biodiversity, reduce greenhouse gases, lower carbon footprints, and prevent pollution
- The digital transformation of Water Hygiene into a paperless business
- 300+ trees planted on customer sites, with each tree supporting around 1,000 species
- The trial of Nissan E-NV200 electric vehicles for field operations
- Rewilding, bug hotels, installing bird boxes, and creating wildflower meadows on customer sites
