Skip to content
WSP WSP
WSP WSP
  • Who we are
    We are the home of ambitious, passionate, and innovative engineering experts, scientists and advisors.

    Read more
    Who we are
    • Our story
    • Future Ready
    • Corporate responsibility
    • Our Offices
    • UK and Ireland Leadership
    • Global Strategic Plan
    • Our impact
    Corporate responsibility
    • Communities
    • Corporate governance
    • Ethics and integrity
    • Health and safety
    • Inclusion and belonging
    • Sustainability
    • UK Policies
    Featured content
    thn-strat-plan-2025
    Pioneering change for empowered growth

    As world shapers, our 2025-2027 Global Strategic Action Plan captures our…

  • What We Do
    We shape the communities of tomorrow and help society thrive.

    Our understanding of local, regional and national needs enables us to deliver solutions that better connect people with places, now and in the future.


    View All

    • Sectors
    • Services
    • Projects
    What We Do
    • Property and buildings
    • Transport and infrastructure
    • Earth and environment
    • Digital services and solutions
    • Planning and development
    • Energy
    • Water
    • Advisory
    Property and buildings
    • Commercial and mixed use
    • Cultural
    • Decarbonising property & buildings
    • Education
    • Existing Buildings
    • Healthcare
    • Heritage
    • High-rise
    • How to net zero
    • Industry
    • Local government
    • Mission critical facilities
    • Modern methods of construction
    • Pharmaceuticals and life science
    • Placemaking development and urban regeneration
    • Residential
    • Sports and stadia
    • Town planning and consulting
    • Workplace
    Transport and infrastructure
    • Asset management
    • Aviation
    • Bridges
    • Defence
    • How to net zero
    • Infrastructure planning and consulting
    • Local government
    • Maritime
    • Project, programme and commercial management
    • Rail and transit
    • Roads and highways
    • Transport planning
    • Tunnels
    Earth and environment
    • Acoustics, noise and vibration
    • Air quality
    • Asbestos and hazardous material
    • Cultural heritage and archaeology
    • Environmental assessment and management
    • How to net zero
    • Kit-of-parts approach
    • Landscape Architecture
    • Nature-based solutions
    • Waste management
    • Water
    Digital services and solutions
    • Daisy
    • Data science advisory solutions
    • Digital and data advisory services
    • Digital solutions for water
    • Digital transport planning
    • How to net zero
    • Kit of parts
    Planning and development
    • Environmental assessment and management
    • How to net zero
    • Infrastructure planning and consulting
    • Land referencing and land assembly
    • Landscape architecture
    • Local government
    • Placemaking development and urban regeneration
    • Stakeholder engagement and strategic communications
    • Town planning and consulting
    • Transport planning
    • Urban planning and design
    Energy
    • Energy transition
    • How to net zero
    • Hydrogen energy
    • Nuclear energy
    • Offshore wind
    • Solar energy
    Water
    • Asset management for water
    • Desalination
    • Digital solutions for water
    • Drinking water supply
    • How to net zero
    • Industrial water
    • Minewater management
    • Nature based solutions
    • Storm water and flood risk management
    • Wastewater treatment
    • Water infrastructure
    • Water planning and advisory
    • Water resources
    Advisory
    • Asset management
    • Data Science Advisory Solutions
    • Digital advisory
    • Economics
    • ESG strategy
    • How to net zero
    • Investor and lenders advisory
    • Net zero and sustainability advisory
    • Project, programme and commercial management
    • Public private partnerships and capital investment
    • Transformation and change management
    Featured content
    thn-net-zero
    How to Net Zero

    How WSP can help you decarbonise with confidence

  • Insights
    Our experts offer compelling insights that provide new perspectives.

    Read inspiring articles that challenge the status quo by reframing current issues, sparking fresh ideas and conversations.

    View all
    Insights
    • Climate
    • Mobility
    • Places
    • Resources
    • Society
    • Technology
    Featured content
    thumbnail-water-research
    Navigating the Waters of Change

    We explore the urgent global water crisis, the innovative strategies being employed…

  • Careers
    What if you could do the kind of work the world needs?

    With us, you can. Make your best impact with WSP, where the culture and people also make it the best work of your life.

    Find out more
    Careers
    • Job opportunities
    • Early Career
    • Experienced Professionals
    • Why join us?
    Featured content
    Thn-Web-Careers-Landing
    Careers in Engineering, Professional Services & the…

    Shape a better future for us all and a brighter future for you. With us, you can.

  • Who we are
    • Our story
    • Future Ready
    • Corporate responsibility
      • Who we are
      • Accountable for Tomorrow
        • Communities
        • Corporate governance
        • Ethics and integrity
        • Health and safety
        • Inclusion and belonging
        • Sustainability
        • UK Policies
    • Our Offices
    • UK and Ireland Leadership
    • Global Strategic Plan
    • Our impact
  • What We Do
    • Property and buildings
      • What We Do
      • Expertise at your service
        • Commercial and mixed use
        • Cultural
        • Decarbonising property & buildings
        • Education
        • Existing Buildings
        • Healthcare
        • Heritage
        • High-rise
        • How to net zero
        • Industry
        • Local government
        • Mission critical facilities
        • Modern methods of construction
        • Pharmaceuticals and life science
        • Placemaking development and urban regeneration
        • Residential
        • Sports and stadia
        • Town planning and consulting
        • Workplace
    • Transport and infrastructure
      • What We Do
      • Expertise at your service
        • Asset management
        • Aviation
        • Bridges
        • Defence
        • How to net zero
        • Infrastructure planning and consulting
        • Local government
        • Maritime
        • Project, programme and commercial management
        • Rail and transit
        • Roads and highways
        • Transport planning
        • Tunnels
    • Earth and environment
      • What We Do
      • Expertise at your service
        • Acoustics, noise and vibration
        • Air quality
        • Asbestos and hazardous material
        • Climate Resilience
        • Cultural heritage and archaeology
        • Environmental assessment and management
        • How to net zero
        • Kit-of-parts approach
        • Landscape Architecture
        • Nature-based solutions
        • Net Zero
        • Waste management
        • Water
    • Digital services and solutions
      • What We Do
        • Cyber Security Services
        • Daisy
        • Data science advisory solutions
        • Digital and data advisory services
        • Digital solutions for water
        • Digital transport planning
        • How to net zero
        • Kit of parts
    • Planning and development
      • What We Do
      • Expertise at your service
        • Environmental assessment and management
        • How to net zero
        • Infrastructure planning and consulting
        • Land referencing and land assembly
        • Landscape architecture
        • Local government
        • Placemaking development and urban regeneration
        • Stakeholder engagement and strategic communications
        • Town planning and consulting
        • Transport planning
        • Urban planning and design
    • Energy
      • What We Do
      • Expertise at your service
        • Energy transition
        • How to net zero
        • Hydrogen energy
        • Nuclear energy
        • Offshore wind
        • Solar energy
    • Water
      • What We Do
        • Asset management for water
        • Desalination
        • Digital solutions for water
        • Drinking water supply
        • How to net zero
        • Industrial water
        • Minewater management
        • Nature based solutions
        • Storm water and flood risk management
        • Wastewater treatment
        • Water infrastructure
        • Water planning and advisory
        • Water resources
    • Advisory
      • What We Do
      • Expertise at your service
        • Asset management
        • Data Science Advisory Solutions
        • Digital advisory
        • Economics
        • ESG strategy
        • How to net zero
        • Investor and lenders advisory
        • Net zero and sustainability advisory
        • Project, programme and commercial management
        • Public private partnerships and capital investment
        • Transformation and change management
  • Insights
    • Climate
    • Mobility
    • Places
    • Resources
    • Society
    • Technology
    • Meet our Changemakers
  • Careers
    • Job opportunities
    • Early Career
    • Experienced Professionals
    • Why join us?
Select your language and location

We are locally dedicated with international scale.

International
  • Global
    English — Français
Americas
  • Brazil
    Português
  • Canada
    English — Français
  • Chile
    Español
  • Colombia
    Español
  • Mexico
    Español
  • Panama
    Español
  • Peru
    Español
  • United States
    English
Africa
  • South Africa
    English
Asia
  • China
    中文(简体) — English
  • Hong Kong
    English
  • India
    English
  • Indonesia
    English
  • Malaysia
    English
  • Philippines
    English
  • Singapore
    English
  • South Korea
    한국어(대한민국) — English
  • Thailand
    English
Europe
  • Denmark
    Dansk
  • Finland
    Suomi
  • France
    Français
  • Germany
    Deutsch
  • Hungary
    English
  • Italy
    Italiano
  • Netherlands
    Nederlands
  • Norway
    Norsk
  • Poland
    Polski
  • Romania
    English
  • Spain
    Español
  • Sweden
    Svenska
  • Switzerland
    Deutsch — Français
  • Turkey
    Turkish
  • United Kingdom
    English
Middle East
  • Kuwait
    English
  • Oman
    English
  • Qatar
    English
  • Saudi Arabia
    English
  • United Arab Emirates
    English
Oceania
  • Australia
    English
  • New Zealand
    English
Worldwide offices
    • Investors
      Discover our diverse business, financial results and strategic ambitions.

      We are committed to delivering sustainable value to our shareholders and exceptional professional services to our clients.

      Find out more
      Investors
      • Corporate governance
      • Press releases
      • Reports and filings
      • Stock information
      • Shareholder information
      • Presentations and events
      Corporate governance
      • Audit committee
      • Board of directors
      • Business Conduct Hotline
      • Constating documents
      • Governance documents
      • Governance ethics and compensation committee
      • Mandates
      Reports and filings
      • AIF
      • Annual
      • Information circular
      • Quarterly
      • SEDAR+ filings
      • Sustainability
      Stock information
      • Analyst coverage
      Shareholder information
      • Acquisitions
      • Dividends
      • FAQ
      Featured content
      Thn-Web-IR-2025-Q1-Results
      WSP's Q1 2025 Results

      We released our 2025 first quarter results on May 7, 2025 after market close.

    • Investors
      • Corporate governance
        • Investors
        • Corporate Governance
          • Audit committee
          • Board of directors
          • Business Conduct Hotline
          • Constating documents
          • Governance documents
          • Governance ethics and compensation committee
          • Mandates
      • Press releases
      • Reports and filings
        • Investors
        • REPORTS & FILINGS
          • AIF
          • Annual
          • Information circular
          • Quarterly
          • SEDAR+ filings
          • Sustainability
      • Stock information
        • Investors
        • Stock Information
          • Analyst coverage
      • Shareholder information
        • Investors
        • Shareholder Information
          • Acquisitions
          • Dividends
          • Drip
          • FAQ
      • Presentations and events
    • News
      Progress happens quickly.

      Stay up to date with our projects, news, events and more.

      News
      • Latest news
      • WSP in the media
      • Our Awards
      • Events and webinars
      Featured content
      our-awards-thumbnail-image (1)
      Award Winning Engineering and Project Management

    • Contact us
      We are dedicated to our local communities and driven by global talent.

      We solve problems for our clients and the communities we serve, meeting the needs of today and tomorrow’s challenges. Contact us to find out how we…

      Contact Us

      Follow us

      Contact us
      • Request a proposal
      • Send a message
      • Find an expert
      • Offices
    • Investors
      Discover our diverse business, financial results and strategic ambitions.

      We are committed to delivering sustainable value to our shareholders and exceptional professional services to our clients.

      Find out more
      Investors
      • Corporate governance
      • Press releases
      • Reports and filings
      • Stock information
      • Shareholder information
      • Presentations and events
      Corporate governance
      • Audit committee
      • Board of directors
      • Business Conduct Hotline
      • Constating documents
      • Governance documents
      • Governance ethics and compensation committee
      • Mandates
      Reports and filings
      • AIF
      • Annual
      • Information circular
      • Quarterly
      • SEDAR+ filings
      • Sustainability
      Stock information
      • Analyst coverage
      Shareholder information
      • Acquisitions
      • Dividends
      • FAQ
      Featured content
      Thn-Web-IR-2025-Q1-Results
      WSP's Q1 2025 Results

      We released our 2025 first quarter results on May 7, 2025 after market close.

    • Investors
      • Corporate governance
        • Investors
        • Corporate Governance
          • Audit committee
          • Board of directors
          • Business Conduct Hotline
          • Constating documents
          • Governance documents
          • Governance ethics and compensation committee
          • Mandates
      • Press releases
      • Reports and filings
        • Investors
        • REPORTS & FILINGS
          • AIF
          • Annual
          • Information circular
          • Quarterly
          • SEDAR+ filings
          • Sustainability
      • Stock information
        • Investors
        • Stock Information
          • Analyst coverage
      • Shareholder information
        • Investors
        • Shareholder Information
          • Acquisitions
          • Dividends
          • Drip
          • FAQ
      • Presentations and events
    • News
      • Latest news
      • WSP in the media
      • Our Awards
      • Events and webinars
    • Contact us
      • Request a proposal
      • Send a message
      • Find an expert
      • Offices
  1. We are WSP
  2. Insights

Net zero: it’s going to get personal

WSP’s Barny Evans explains why both government and individuals are crucial in the UK’s transition to net zero.

map marker United Kingdom | 13 November 2020

This week saw the launch of Putting Net Zero at the heart of future UK policy, a seminal report produced by the Net Zero All-Party Parliamentary Group, WSP and other well-known industry voices.

As government prepares to publish a flurry of policies on this agenda, this report warns government that the UK is not on track to meet its net zero emissions by 2050 and that urgent action must be taken now to decarbonise power, transport, housing and land. 

The reality however is that while policy matters in creating momentum and a sense of direction, this decade will be the time when decarbonisation gets personal, and when it starts to profoundly impact people’s lives. This is why keeping our communities onboard is so crucial.

Today, most of us still use a petrol car, a gas boiler and a simple energy tariff. By 2030, all this needs to change. 

While offshore wind, for example, will probably be the backbone of our energy system in the future, and day to day, it won’t affect us personally. However, heating, transport and building decarbonisation do affect us. On transport, electric vehicles are probably the best place to start as they will be cheaper and better in almost every way for the user. 

For homes, switching to heat pumps for domestic heating as a near-term solution will undoubtedly reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, but they are more expensive and less familiar to use. Sometimes, it will even mean internal changes to our homes and other buildings. On this, we first need clear support in the new-build and existing homes sector from government. 

For existing homes, we should be talking about one million heat pump installations per annum needed in the long-term, as well as the integration of smarter home energy management systems. While the Green Homes Grant may fulfil a short-term role, it needs to evolve into a long-term sustainable programme, so that the market has confidence. 

Using EPC ratings as a ratchet may work but we need to be more confident in their quality and the correlation with actual performance. Research shows people are keen on decarbonising their homes, however it also shows that they don’t fully understand how. This also needs to change.

The net-zero requirements for new homes is a low hanging fruit, but work still needs to be done on alignment. As the report notes, we need to be building them right now, so we aren’t locking in construction or systems that we know will need to be retrofitted in few years. The fact that the Building Regulations have not been updated since 2014 also urgently needs to be addressed.

Government consulted on this in 2019 but we are still awaiting a strategy. The planning white paper reconfirms the target to have the Future Homes Standard, so new homes will be ‘zero-carbon ready’. But that still means over one million homes will be built to sub-par zero-carbon standards in the meantime.

As we all know, having targets is one thing but achieving them is the real task. WSP has recently committed to halving the carbon footprint of all designs and advice by 2030, and I hope this report helps policymakers implement the right measures so we can achieve a net zero transition across the UK.


More on this subject

thumbnail-asset-management-climate-resilience

May 2025

Managing climate resilient assets

svg-icon Blog
Climate , Resilience
thn-Advancing-Electrifications-Role-in-our-Energy-Systems

May 2025 | 5:22 minutes

Advancing Electrification’s Role in our Energy Systems

United States
svg-icon Feature
Resilience , Climate , Energy Transition , Decarbonization
Thumbnail ICW 563 x 220 px andreagysin

April 2025 | 3 minutes

In conversation with Andrea Gysin

United Kingdom
svg-icon Blog
Climate , Resources
Img-Planning-Paradox-Thumb

March 2025

Navigating the Built Environment Planning Paradox

Global
svg-icon Feature
Climate , Decarbonization , Energy Transition , Mobility , Places , Resilience , Resources , Society , Technology
Michael Trousdell Thumbnail ICW 563 x 220 px

March 2025 | 7 minutes

In conversation with Michael Trousdell

United Kingdom
svg-icon Blog
Technology , Climate
Thumbnail ICW 563 x 220 px  davidtompkins

March 2025 | 5 minutes

In conversation with David Tompkins

United Kingdom
svg-icon Blog
Working at WSP , Climate , Resources
environmental, social and governance, nature positive, biodiversity

January 2025 | 8 Minutes

The ICMM nature position statement: meeting the commitments

Global
svg-icon Blog
Mining , Biodiversity , Climate
thn-website-insights-from-the-ground-up

January 2025 | 8 minutes

From the Ground Up: Building Nature into Transport Design

Global
svg-icon Feature
Climate , Resources
GL-EE-TNFD-Article-Thumb

January 2025 | 4 Minutes

Meeting TNFD expectations 5 things you need to know

Sweden
Climate
thn-building-for-a-changing-climate

November 2024 | 5:54 minutes

Building for a Changing Climate: A Data-Driven Approach to Infrastructure Resilience

United States
svg-icon Feature
Resilience , Climate
thn-COP28 to COP29 insight

November 2024 | 5 minutes

COP28 to COP29

Global
svg-icon Feature
Climate
WSP-Maritimes-Dry_Ports-Thumbnail

October 2024

Planning and Designing Next-Generation Dry Ports

Global
svg-icon Feature
Climate , Decarbonization , Mobility

Share this page

  • Share on Facebook - Warning, this link will open a new tab.
  • Share on Linkedin - Warning, this link will open a new tab.
  • Share on Twitter - Warning, this link will open a new tab.
  • Share on Skype - Warning, this link will open your Skype application.

Related themes and tags

  • Climate (182)


  • Climate (54)
  • Environment (76)
  • Net Zero (25)
  •  
  •   Page will open in a new tab
  •   Page will open in a new tab
  •   Page will open in a new tab
  •   Page will open in a new tab
  • Who We Are
  • Our story
  • Future Ready
  • UK and Ireland leadership
  • Our offices
  • What We Do
  • Sectors
  • Services
  • Projects
  • Insights
  • Climate
  • Mobility
  • Places
  • Society
  • Resources
  • Technology
  • Careers
  • Job opportunities
  • Early career
  • Experienced professionals
  • Why join us?
  • Corporate
  • Policies
  • Sustainability
  • Health and safety
  • Investors
  • Business Conduct Hotline
  • News
  • Corporate governance
  • Ethics and integrity
    ©2025 WSP
    • The WSP logo
    • Privacy notice
    • Anti-spam commitment
    • UK corporate governance statement
    • UK policies
    • Cookie notice
    • Terms of use
    • Supplying to WSP
    ©2025 WSP
    Exiting our Website

    You are about to leave WSP.com and are being redirected to a job opportunity at Louis Berger, which has been recently acquired by WSP in the US.