UK water retailer retains global gold sustainability award

One of the UK’s largest water retailers has increased its score from the world’s largest sustainability assessors, placing the company in the 98th percentile of companies assessed globally.

Edinburgh-based Business Stream increased its score from 74/100 last year to 80/100 (awarded in January 2025). This included achieving a score of 86/100 in the environment category.

EcoVadis assess more than 150,000 companies in over 200 industries on their sustainability credentials. The assessment is based on international sustainability standards, including the Global Reporting Initiative, the United Nations Global Compact and ISO 26000 certification.

In addition to assessing Business Stream’s environmental credentials, EcoVadis also measured the water retailer’s commitment to labour and human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement.

Sophia Goring, Head of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) at Business Stream said: “We’re incredibly proud to have achieved this score, which reflects our commitment to embedding sustainable practices across our business.

The EcoVadis assessment enables us to not only benchmark our progress against international best practice, but to identify further ways we can strengthen our sustainability offering in the year ahead”.

To further support its commitment to international sustainability standards, Business Stream recently became the first water retailer to join the United Nations (UN) Global Compact.

Launched in 2000, the UN Global Compact is the largest corporate sustainability initiative in the world, with more than 15,000 companies and 3,500 non-business signatories based in over 160 countries, and 70+ Local Networks.

By joining the network, Business Stream will meet annual reporting requirements to demonstrate how it’s supporting the delivery of the UNs Sustainable Development Goals.

In addition, the company will benefit from having access to a range of tools, resources and expert-led training, as well as opportunities to collaborate with other members to share best practice and solutions.

The Scottish retail water market opened in 2008. The English retail water market, which opened in April 2017, paved the way for over 1.2 million businesses and public bodies in England to be able to choose their water supplier.

Business Stream is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Scottish Water with its own board and independent management team. It was formed in 2006 with the goal of providing a first-class service for business customers on the opening of the competitive market in Scotland.

The company acquired the non-household customer base of Southern Water ahead of the opening of the English retail water market. Then in 2019, acquired the customer base of its competitors Yorkshire Water Business Services (YWBS) and Three-Sixty, doubling its market share.