Read: Pennon Group commits to levelling up

Exeter-based water company Pennon Group has joined the Purpose Coalition, which brings together a growing number of businesses and universities who are leading the drive on Britain’s twin challenges of levelling up and reaching net zero.

The Purpose Coalition sits alongside the Social Mobility Pledge, co-founded in 2018 by Rt Hon Justine Greening, which works to encourage businesses to play a strategic role on how they create opportunities to help level up Britain.

Susan Davy, CEO of Pennon Group

Pennon Group will now develop and implement an Opportunity Action Plan, which will set out a strategy for how it can use its organisation to spread opportunity to the maximum effect for communities and SMEs throughout the South West of England. As part of the wider Purpose Coalition, it will also be involved with other leading businesses and universities in developing and sharing new ideas and projects to have maximum purpose-led impact.  

Earlier this month the Purpose Coalition launched a set of ‘Levelling Up Goals’, providing Britain’s first levelling up framework to focus the Coalition’s efforts on driving equality of opportunity at key life stages, from early years through to careers, alongside the barriers to opportunity such as closing the digital divide, health and wellbeing, and infrastructure for opportunity. These Goals will provide a universal benchmark to track progress and is the first common framework to enable the public to clearly see the individual and collective effort of businesses and universities. 

Pennon Group will be the first water company to put in place an Opportunity Action Plan, and measure its impact on the ground by using the Levelling Up Goals framework, joining other leading businesses including Direct Line Group and Persimmon.

Former Education Secretary and Social Mobility Pledge co-founder, Rt Hon Justine Greening, said: “I’m absolutely delighted to be working with Pennon Group as part of the Purpose Coalition. This means we can build on the great work Pennon Group already does on award-winning apprenticeships, and its work in local communities and schools. More and more businesses are now realising that to make a real impact on levelling up and the race to net zero they must fully embed social responsibility into their purpose and across their operations. 

“It's about working closely with local communities, building deep partnerships with other organisations and making genuine efforts to spread opportunity to where it can make the biggest difference. Members of the Purpose Coalition understand that tackling ESG issues is key to the future of a successful business but they are also now centre stage for Britain as net zero and levelling up have become the two key challenges our Government and our country needs to successfully meet after COVID-19.

“Pennon Group already takes a leadership role in promoting ESG goals and we’re very much looking forward to working closely with them moving forward.”