National Grid plc

Good morning everyone and welcome to our half year results presentation. Welcome also to those of you who are watching this on the web. As always we begin with safety. No planned fire alarm test this morning so if you hear an alarm then you do need to leave the building. Also draw your attention to the cautionary statement which is there right behind me now and obviously the team is around if you've got questions later and with that I'd like to hand you over to John.

So thank you, Arti, and good morning, everyone. I'm joined this morning by Andy Ag, our CFO, and as usual, Nicholas Shaw is here to assist with any questions at the end. Unfortunately, Badar Khan, who was appointed interim president of the US business following our announcement that Dean Sievers is stepping down, can't be here today. Badar is in the US managing the current situation, which I'll talk more about later. I'm very grateful for all that Dean has done for the group, And I'd like to take this opportunity to wish him well for the future. Before I review our first half performance, I want to begin with today's announcement that we've set a new target of achieving net zero for our own emissions by 2050. The decarbonisation of the energy system is one of the biggest challenges facing our planet today. A national grid has a critical role to play in helping to accelerate towards a cleaner future. In 2008, we set ourselves the target of reducing our emissions by 80% by 2050, and strong progress has been made since then. By the end of March this year, we'd already reduced our emissions by 68%, exceeding our interim target of 45% by 2020. We've achieved this by focusing on a range of activities that include a significant pipeline replacement program which minimizes gas losses through leakages, reducing a high-emission greenhouse gas called SF6 from our electricity networks, and reducing carbon emissions in our supply chain through low-carbon construction. In order to achieve our new ambitious target of net zero, we're accelerating plans to further reduce our own emissions. We're also increasing our influence in other areas to support the overall industry-wide transition to a low carbon future. And to this end, I'll continue to focus on driving forward a number of key initiatives. So these include supporting our UK electricity system operator to operate a zero carbon system by 2025. Pushing forwards our proposals to ramp up the electrification of transport in the UK through our EV fast charging solution at motorway service stations. In the US, continue to work on energy efficiency programs for customers, oil to gas conversions for heating, proposals for renewable gas programs and hydrogen blending. And finally, progressing our interconnector projects, which provide a solution to all of the energy trilemma issues of security of supply, affordability and tackling climate change. What's so exciting about all of these projects is that they combine our strong engineering and operational skills whilst also addressing decarbonisation. So I'd like to show you a brief video to bring all of this to life.

electricity interconnectors clean energy superhighways allow countries to share excess renewable energy and help deliver our low carbon future national grid successfully operates large-scale interconnectors and has a stake in the world's top performing hvdc interconnector britned We are investing around 2 billion pounds in new interconnector capacity, including NemoLink with its new cable technology, which will help to reduce costs for customers. By 2024, we will have 7.8 gigawatts of interconnector capacity in operation, connecting networks across Europe enough to power around 8 million homes across the UK. We're committed to helping the UK reach its 2050 net zero greenhouse gas emissions target. Electricity Interconnectors, Britain's hidden heroes, will help us achieve net zero emissions and deliver a cleaner energy system today and for future generations.