ECITB helping water companies in Wales on decarbonisation journey

The Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB) is supporting Dwr Cymru Welsh Water to help companies working in the water sector in Wales on their decarbonisation journey.

As part of the latest five-year asset management period (AMP8) in the sector, water regulator Ofwat has introduced a new performance commitment for water companies in Wales to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to support the Welsh Government’s net zero targets.

To help enhance the sector’s readiness for net zero, the ECITB is working in collaboration with Dwr Cymru Welsh Water to give the organisation and its contracted supply chain companies free access to its ‘Engineering Net Zero’ e-learning content.

The online course offers a foundational understanding of the basics of climate change, personal and organisational carbon footprints and summarises key actions and efforts in the engineering construction industry (ECI) to reach net zero.

Workers in the sector will be able to complete the four modules via the industry-led skills body’s ECITB EXPLORE platform.

Dwr Cymru Welsh Water, which serves around 1.4 million homes and businesses, is working to lower its own carbon footprint while supporting its supply chain towards the same goal.

Head of Energy Efficiency Andrew Dixon said: “As an organisation we’re trying to evolve while also helping our goods and services providers on their decarbonisation journeys.

“Now Ofwat has introduced a performance commitment for this current five-year regulatory period it very much puts the onus on water companies and their emissions.

“These companies offer a service in a particular niche they’re good at, but often they don’t have the big head office function with a decarbonisation team. Anything that we can do to help them on their journey and with their understanding will be really beneficial for them.

“We don’t have direct control over supply chains, partners or contractors, we just have influence, so working in partnership with the ECITB and having access to this net zero online content is definitely going to help.

“We got to trial the modules of the course and found them really useful, so knew this would be good for the wider water industry in Wales.”The

ECI plays a crucial role in Great Britain meeting its net zero ambitions, spanning sectors that focus on the construction, maintenance and decommissioning of heavy industry, including oil and gas, nuclear, power generation, renewables, chemicals, food and drink, pharmaceuticals and water treatment.

Engineering construction builds the infrastructure our country needs to reduce emissions and designs and engineers methods of taking carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

In response to demand from industry, the ECITB created the industry-specific net zero online content, which it launched in July 2024 on the organisation’s e-learning portal, the Learning Experience Platform (LXP).

The LXP, which provides more than 8,500 free-to-access online courses for in-scope employers in the ECI, is accessible from any device, provides access to a wide range of learning resources and allows people to learn at their own pace.

The interactive e-learning training has now been made available free of charge to all parts of the water industry in Wales via the EXPLORE portal, which runs parallel to the ECITB’s LXP.

Martyn Johnson, ECITB Head of Region for Wales, said: “As the skills organisation for the ECI in Great Britain, our vision is a trailblazing industry where critical infrastructure, energy security and net-zero ambitions are achieved.

“One of the pillars of our Leading Industry Learning Strategy is about supporting an industry in transition and preparing the workforce for net zero.

“As part of our commitment to net zero skills training, making this course available to Dwr Cymru Welsh Water and its contractor network will ensure workers in the sector in Wales get the knowledge and awareness they need to help them on their decarbonisation journeys.”

Pictured: A wetlands construction project by Welsh Water, which is a nature-based, lower carbon solution to help with phosphorous management in rivers and receptors