Decarbonising our portfolio

We're committed to playing our part in tackling the climate crisis. 

Throughout the past decade, we’ve established ourselves as a global sustainability leader in our sector. We’ve set and achieved ambitious science-based carbon targets, reduced energy use in our buildings, and invested in renewable energy on our transition to net zero.

Key milestones

Transitioning to net zero carbon

To support the world in limiting global warming to 1.5ºC we are transitioning to net zero carbon through our science-based carbon reduction target. Starting with The Forge, the UK’s first commercial development to have been designed in line with the UK Green Building Council’s definition of a net zero building, all our future developments will be net zero.

Targets

Our net zero transition investment plan 

In November 2021, we published our £135m net zero transition investment plan (NZTIP). It will ensure we meet our near-term carbon-reduction target and the proposed Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES) of EPC B by 2030. We expect the plan to remove 24,000 tonnes of carbon emissions from our operations.

Our portfolio remains 100% compliant with the 2023 MEES EPC E or above requirements. In addition, 49% of our portfolio – 44% of offices and 55% of retail – already meets the proposed MEES of EPC B. As we progress our NZTIP, we expect that half our office portfolio will reach EPC B by 2025 and all of our portfolio will meet the proposed MEES by 2030.

Here’s how we’re doing it:

 

Tackling our full carbon footprint

We recognise that we also have an important role to play in influencing emission reduction of our supply chain and customers. 

Find out more about our supply chain commitments here.

Every year we report on the entire range of measurable carbon emissions associated with our business, including the energy we use heat and power our managed properties, as well as indirect emissions such as embodied carbon produced by our suppliers.

Here are some of the ways we're tackling our carbon footprint:

Designing and developing our new schemes sustainably

Nearly 50% of whole life carbon emissions of a building occur before it even completes and this proportion is growing as the UK grid decarbonises. We therefore continue to design and construct our buildings to be net zero and in 2023 set an ambitious target to Reduce average embodied carbon by 50% compared with a typical building by 2030.

In 2023, we delivered The Forge in Southwark, the first UK net zero commercial building constructed and operated in line with the UK Green Building Council's (UKGBC) framework definition for net zero buildings. We continue to design and build net zero buildings.

We have made considerable progress in reducing upfront embodied carbon across our development pipeline, achieving a 40% reduction compared to a typical building.

We monitor embodied carbon from the outset of each scheme, and collaborate with our supply partners to reduce emissions through:

• Structural retention and material reuse  – at Hill House, we are retaining 58% of the existing structure, resulting in significant carbon savings.

• Designing-out material – we have challenged our teams to use less material and remove redundant capacity from our structural solutions, such as designing-out raised-access floor tiles and removing heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems through natural ventilation. At the Republic in Manchester, we have reduced the size of our structural grid, leading to around a 10% reduction in concrete required.

• Changing our specifications to low-carbon materials alternatives – at Timber Square, we have sourced 115 tonnes of reused steel. This year we refined our Sustainable Development Toolkit to align with our refurbishment projects, reflecting the fact that refurbishments need a case-by-case approach, with project-specific targets.

We continue developing our net zero carbon strategy for our mixed-use urban neighbourhoods, aiming to apply the same level of diligence on our residential-led projects as we do for our offices. We looked at the life-cycle impact of our masterplans and set targets for embodied and operational carbon based on in-depth modelling and financial appraisal. We are confident that this sets us on a path to providing climate-resilient homes that will stand the test of time. 

Energy management

Using less energy is fundamental if we’re to meet our long-term emission targets and keep making our spaces affordable for customers.

A key way we can reduce carbon is by lowering the energy use of our assets, and this has the additional benefit of reducing our customers’ energy costs. In line with our ISO 50001 Energy Management System, every property we operate has its own energy reduction plan. These plans look at retrofitting energy-efficient equipment, optimising our buildings to use less energy, and working with our customers to reduce the energy they use in their spaces. Our ISO Certification can be found here.

Renewable energy

We’re committed to increasing the amount of renewable electricity generated on our sites and pioneering low carbon technologies to improve the efficiency of our assets.

Since 2016 we have sourced 100% of our electricity supplies for the sites we manage through our corporate contract from REGO-backed renewable sources through our corporate contract with SmartestEnergy. 

We’re proud to have been the first property company to join RE100, a group of influential businesses committed to renewable energy. We're seeing more on-site renewable generation come to life, including the installation of solar panels at eight of our retail sites.

In 2023 we also carried out 6 air-source heat pump feasibility studies and 7 renewable energy feasibility studies.

Download our 2023/24 renewable electricity certificate

Solar PV 
We’re proud to have been the first property company to join RE100, a group of influential businesses committed to renewable energy. We're seeing more on-site renewable generation come to life, including the installation of solar panels at eight of our retail sites.

We began construction to install solar PV at Gunwharf Quays in March 2024 and completed feasibility studies for additional on-site renewable capacity at Braintree Village and Trinity Leeds.

Credible carbon offsetting

We recognise that despite our plans to transition to net zero, we’ll need to offset some unavoidable remaining emissions from our development activity. We’re focused on ensuring each credit is independently verified, transparent and traceable meeting UKGBC and SBTi principles. As such, we’ve joined The Lowering of Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance (LEAF), a public-private coalition, supported by governments (UK, US and Norway), that seeks to mobilise finance to protect tropical forests at huge scale. LEAF carbon offsets are verified by Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART).

Resilience

To ensure we have resilient assets that meet the changing needs of our people and customers, we invest in low-carbon, energy efficient buildings and we’re moving from dependence on gas towards all-electric solutions like air source heat pumps.

Part of becoming more resilient is being aware of the physical risks of climate change, like flooding, sea level rise and overheating. As the climate becomes hotter and wetter, we need to be sure our assets still deliver the same quality of experience to our customers. At present the percentage of our portfolio at high risk of extreme weather in the lead up to 2030 is 1.1% when measured by value. As climate change will gradually increase the level of risk over time, it’s important we continually reassess the risks.

Read our Shaping Successful Future Cities report.

TCFD

The Task Force for Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), launched in 2017, encourages businesses to build resilience to the possible outcomes of climate change. In line with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures’ (TCFD) recommendations, since 2017 we’ve committed to assessing and reporting on material climate change risks across our portfolio, ensuring we have the appropriate strategy and mitigation plan in place.

Read our 2023 TCFD response.