Throughout the past decade, we've established ourselves as a global sustainability leader in our sector. We’ve set and achieved ambitious carbon targets, invested in renewable energy, and reduced energy use in our buildings.

In 2016 we became the first commercial property company in the world to have our carbon reduction target approved by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), linking our targets with the science of climate change. In 2019, having met our target 11 years early, and acknowledging that the world’s carbon emissions continued to increase, we increased the ambition level of our science-based carbon reduction target (SBT). This update ensured that our SBT aligned with a 1.5 degree warming scenario, targeting a 70% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 from a 2013/14 baseline. Last year, to continue reducing carbon emissions across our live developments, we also set a new target to reduce average embodied carbon by 50% compared with a typical building by 2030.

In 2023 we’ve updated our carbon reduction targets further and committed to reach net zero by 2040 in response to the SBTi’s Net Zero Standard. The standard provides the world’s first credible and independent assessment of corporate net zero target setting to ensure that companies make meaningful progress towards reaching net zero.

•    Overall Net Zero Target: We’ve committed to reach net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across the value chain by 2040 from a 2020 base year 
•    Near-Term Target: We’ve committed to reduce absolute scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions 47% by 2030 from a 2020 base year 
•    Long-Term Target: We’ve committed to reduce absolute scope 1, 2 and 3 GHG emissions 90% by 2040 from a 2020 base year 

Transitioning to net zero carbon

The independent Committee on Climate Change recommended, and Government accepted, that the UK should aim to be net zero carbon by 2050. It stated that this is technically feasible with known technologies, and those who can, should aim to be net zero carbon sooner than this. To support the world in limiting global warming to 1.5ºC we are transitioning to net zero carbon which we are achieving through our science-based carbon reduction target. Starting with The Forge, the UK’s first net zero building, all our future developments will be net zero.

Our science-based carbon reduction targets

•    Overall Net Zero Target:  We’ve committed to reach net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across the value chain by 2040 from a 2020 base year  

•    Near-Term Target: We’ve committed to reduce absolute scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions 47% by 2030 from a 2020 base year  

•    Long-Term Target: We’ve committed to reduce absolute scope 1, 2 and 3 GHG emissions 90% by 2040 from a 2020 base year   

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. 
Our portfolio is now 100% compliant with the 2023 MEES EPC E or above requirements. In addition, 36% of our portfolio, 38% of offices and 34% of retail, are already meeting the proposed MEES of EPC B. With the sale of 1 New Street Square, which had an EPC B rating, the proportion of our portfolio meeting EPC B has reduced, however we are confident that as we continue with our NZTIP we will meet the proposed MEES. 

We expect the plan to remove 24,000 tonnes of carbon emissions from Landsec’s operations. We are making excellent progress with our plan, spending over £2m in 2022/23 on the following initiatives: 

 Moving to cleaner sources of energy, replacing gas-fired boilers with air-source heat pumps. 

•  Optimising building management systems, ensuring they operate in accordance with the way buildings are occupied. We’re testing predictive and self-adaptive AI technology to optimise heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems at our Head Office. We predict this will contribute to energy reductions of up to 10%. 
•  Increasing the capacity of onsite renewable energy, installing solar panels at eight of our retail sites. This year we carried out 6 air-source heat pump feasibility studies and 7 renewable energy feasibility studies. 
•  Replacing all fluorescent lighting with LEDs. 

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.

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.

Engaging our customers to reduce energy consumption

Recognising that approximately 40% of all energy consumption comes from our occupiers’ use of our buildings, we launched a customer engagement programme to raise awareness, change behaviour and identify opportunities for collaborating on energy and cost savings.

Working with these customers and energy specialists we have been: 

• Running energy audits with data analysis and a site visit to understand data trends, anomalies and opportunities
• Using energy-efficiency questionnaires for customers’ employees to capture their opinions, attitudes and ideas on reducing energy
• Running interactive workshops to raise awareness of net zero carbon and discuss energy use
• Making recommendations to improve efficiency 

To further raise awareness and drive energy efficiency we entered 80-100 Victoria Street, One New Change and New Street Square into the CUBE competition. CUBE’s goal is to help landlords and their occupiers improve energy efficiency through gamification and behaviour change. Participants are ranked monthly on which building has registered the largest percentage energy reduction, measured from their own historic baseline of energy use. 

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 been 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. 

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.

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 
 

Renewable energy

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

We're seeing more on-site renewable generation come to life as new developments and refurbishments complete and the technologies we specified in design are activated.

Since 2016 we have sourced 100% of our electricity supplies through our corporate contract from REGO-backed renewable sources through our corporate contract with Smartest Energy, and we are looking to move our procurement towards direct purchasing from renewable projects, through Power Purchase Agreements (PPA).

As of 1 April 2016, all the sites we manage are supplied by SmartestEnergy, the UK’s first officially certified 100% renewable electricity producer. And we are proud to have been the first property company to join RE100, a group of influential businesses committed to renewable energy.

Download our 2023/24 renewable electricity certificate