Our new sustainability strategy is making a difference for our residents, our people and our planet
“Delivering a just, fair and inclusive transition to a net zero carbon economy is vitally important to us at Clarion and we are strongly committed to achieving it.”
By Miles Lewis, Director of Sustainability
We’ve recently launched our new sustainability strategy across the Group which sets our horizon out to 2050, helping us to understand where we want to be as a business in the long term and what we need to deliver to get there.
We have enhanced our environmental targets and continue to prioritise our social mission as an organisation to deliver homes for those who need them most.
Our sustainability strategy was established by reviewing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) and making a judgement on how we could most positively deliver against them. In addition, we conducted a thorough materiality review process which led us to understand what was important to our residents, customers, investors and employees. We are committed to achieve the targets set out in the Paris Agreement, including a just transition to ensure no one is left behind as we head for a zero carbon future.
Our strategy is also in direct response to our organisational purpose of making a difference - in order for us to do this we need to deliver significant environmental and social impact.
Our 2050 horizon
Distilling all of this, on top of the wider societal challenges we are facing - such as the cost-of-living crisis, climate crisis and biodiversity crisis - led us to our main sustainability strategy focus areas which sit under three main pillars.
Committed to putting our residents first
Delivering a just, fair and inclusive transition to a net zero carbon economy is vitally important to us at Clarion and we are strongly committed to achieving it. We need to achieve our environmental goals whilst ensuring that our residents benefit from the transition and are brought on the journey with us.
Some examples of how we’re already delivering on this include:
- Delivering jobs and training opportunities through Clarion Futures, our charitable arm, including a focus on developing green skills pathways for our residents and customers to benefit from the transition to net zero.
- Planning our decarbonisation programmes to deliver a minimum EPC B rating on all new homes and retrofitting to minimum EPC C on all existing homes. This serves to protect customers’ energy bills while transitioning to fossil fuel-free technologies. We have already retrofitted hundreds of homes which subsequently improve energy efficiency, improve wellbeing, reduce bills and reduce carbon.
- Actively engaging with our residents to understand their challenges, through initiatives like the Clarion Index, which allows us to respond to their needs and concerns.
- Generating well over £100m in social value annually through the activities of Clarion Futures and creating apprenticeships through our supply chain contractors.
- Continuing with our Equity, Diversity & Inclusion strategy which aims to close our gender and ethnicity pay gaps and to reflect the diversity of the communities we serve.
- Working with our contractors to ensure they are paying employees the Living Wage to ensure fair and decent jobs.
Looking forward
As part of our sustainability strategy work, we are developing a just climate transition plan, which will focus on how we decarbonise and create an organisation that is resilient to the risks from climate change, whilst ensuring that our residents benefit from this transition.
Find out more
Our targets are ambitious and we are going to work hard with partners, government and our residents to achieve them. To find out more about our sustainability performance so far, please see our Making a Difference report and our highlights from the last financial year.