England’s water companies raise £10.5 billion through ‘green bonds’ while continuing to pollute rivers

England’s privately-owned water companies have raised £10.5 billion since 2017 through “green bonds” – financial instruments supposedly tied to environmentally beneficial projects – even as they maintained a dismal track record of dumping sewage into rivers and waterways.

The striking contradiction was revealed through new research by Unearthed, Greenpeace UK’s investigative journalism unit, which analyzed financial market data and found that water companies have issued one-fifth of all green bonds in the UK over the past seven years. These bonds are marketed to investors as funding projects that deliver clear environmental benefits, yet the same period has been marked by consistently poor pollution performance from the water industry.

Environmental campaign group River Action has condemned the practice as “corporate greenwash on steroids,” highlighting the disconnect between the companies’ green financing claims and their actual environmental impact. The findings raise serious questions about the integrity of the green bond market and whether adequate oversight exists to ensure that funds raised through these instruments genuinely support environmental improvements.

The research comes amid growing public anger over water companies’ sewage discharge practices, with rivers across England suffering from pollution incidents while companies continue to pay substantial dividends to shareholders. The £10.5 billion raised through green bonds represents a significant portion of the UK’s sustainable finance market, suggesting that investors may be inadvertently funding companies with poor environmental records under the guise of green investment.