Our Planet.
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Futureproofing our planet.
As the climate crisis progresses and governments look to find solution, we recognise the need for our business to act in an environmentally sustainable way, now and in the future. The UK has strong net zero ambitions, and we want to use our own net zero roadmap to pay our part.
This means monitoring and managing our emissions, assessing the risks and opportunities posed by the environment, and upskilling our colleagues to futureproof the business.
Small steps for long-term change
To reduce our carbon emissions from our own operations by 70% by 2027.
To reduce our direct energy consumption by 50% by 2030.
To be net zero for our own operations by 2030.
To be net zero for our direct and indirect emissions by 2050.
We approach the reduction of our emissions in two ways – operational emissions that we control directly, and emissions created by those who are connected to our business, our colleagues, customers and suppliers.
Operational
Our pathway to reducing the carbon emissions created by our business operations is clear.
The targets we have set will see us tackle the fuel we choose to power our company vehicles and how we heat and light our buildings – we’ve already commenced plans to develop and refurbish our head offices with energy efficiency solutions front of mind.
Colleagues, customers and suppliers
We’re working towards full and accurate measurement of the carbon emissions created by our lending activities and all other activities we undertake to operate as a business. This includes understanding the emissions of our loan book, our suppliers, and the way our colleagues travel to work. To help us on this journey, we’ve partnered with the UK’s leading energy and sustainability consultancy – Inspired PLC.
We have ambitions to support our customers with a more energy efficient way of living and, in the future, developing products and services to support them. Visit our EPC Hub to find out more.
Road to Net Zero
Energy usage
As the future of energy is electric, it’s still important that we manage our consumption of energy – energy efficient equipment and mindful consumption helps us consume energy responsibly. Our IT infrastructure and building management are two keys areas where we can do this.
Carbon emissions
As we bring our energy usage down, we will inevitably reduce our carbon emissions. To ensure we achieve this, a working group of colleagues across the business, in collaboration with our external consultants, have developed a net zero roadmap – built to understand what’s required to evidence progress.
This roadmap is a detailed plan covering short, medium and long term actions. Milestones include enhancements to our procurement processes to factor in environmental impact, the development of environmental data relating to our mortgage portfolio, and the requirement to identify an alternative source of heating for our office buildings as we aim to transition away from gas.
Financed emissions
For a specialist lender, a significant amount of our emissions come from our Scope 3 (indirect emissions) and as a mortgage lender, our Scope 3 emissions are concentrated on the properties within our loan book.
This means that as our loan book grows, so does the emissions value of our investments. As we develop the data that bolsters our Scope 3 calculations, we also understand the importance of supporting our customers with their own energy efficiency journey through our EPC Hub under the Our Customers Pillar.
“Our sustainability journey doesn’t start today.”
"As a financial services organisation, we understand we’ve got an important role to play in reducing our own direct emissions, but we also realise that the emissions relating to our business operations are a much greater challenge."
Paul Moran, Head of Sustainability.
