England’s water industry issued £10.5bn in ‘green bonds’ despite pollution record

Thames Water Deephams Sewage Treatment Works. Thames Water has issued £3.1bn in green bonds since 2017, while Anglian Water has issued £3.5bn, according to analysis by Unearthed. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian

Water companies have issued a fifth of the UK’s “green bonds” since 2017, despite a consistently poor record of sewage pollution during that time, research has shown.

Privately owned water companies in England have together issued £10.5bn in bonds tied to projects that offer “environmental benefits”, according to analysis of financial market data by Unearthed, which is part of Greenpeace UK.