Download Environmental sustainability strategy Achieving a greener business

Environmental
sustainability
strategy
Achieving a greener business, homes, communities and way of living
Directorate Responsible:
Operations
Approval Date: June 2011 (deferred from January 2011)
Review Date: January 2014
Version: 3
Environmental sustainability strategy
1. Statement of intent
Cross Keys Homes (CKH) is committed to reducing the impact it has on the
environment resulting from its business activity. This includes the use of
energy, release of carbon emissions and the production of waste. On a wider
scale, CKH is also committed to preventing pollution and reducing its impact
on the community, looking at the environmental externalities generated on
natural habitats and wildlife, as well as the communities in which we operate.
To manage these impacts we will ensure full compliance with all
environmental legal requirements and any other requirements in relation to
the city and the industry.
CKH operates an environmental management system which complies with the
requirements of ISO 14001:2004 for the management and letting of social
housing, gaining certification by accrediting body BSi in May 2011.
This strategy will provide direction towards reducing carbon emissions and
waste produced across our offices, social housing, and the vehicles
associated with our business. It will also look into the greening of our
procurement chain and the implementation of new plans to help meet
international, national and local targets.
This will be communicated to our staff, tenants and key stakeholders including
Peterborough City Council and Peterborough Environment City Trust, to
ensure we are all working towards a common goal.
2. Background
Housing has a major impact on climate change and the environment, and has
been identified as a significant contributor to the UK’s carbon emissions. This
is due to a number of factors including the inefficient use of energy, a lack in
use of renewable technology and poor waste management practices.
CKH has considered these impacts and has a Development policy and
strategy in place to address them. This focuses on managing all planning and
development schemes in a way that helps reduce the negative impacts we
create. It will be used alongside this strategy to ensure maximum
environmental protection across all activities.
3. External influences
3.1 International drivers
A key part of government’s effort to reduce the impact of climate change
internationally is to prepare the ground for a global, comprehensive and longterm framework to address climate change. This has been addressed under
the United Nations Convention on Climate Change and the requirements of
the Kyoto Protocol. These require significant reductions in greenhouse gas
emissions across 37 countries, by 5% of the 1990 baseline by 2012. The UK
has committed to reduce emissions by 12.5%.
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3.2 National drivers
The government has recognised that to avoid dangerous levels of climate
change global greenhouse gas levels must start to fall, and should be at least
50% below 1990 levels by 2050. Nationally, the Climate Change Act 2008
commits the UK to a 34% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions against the
1990 baseline by 2020, and an 80% reduction by 2050. These are to be
achieved through a carbon cap and trade scheme under the Carbon
Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme. This is the first long-term
framework for reducing greenhouse gas emissions that is legally binding.
In terms of waste management, national controls on waste originate from the
Control of Pollution Act 1974 and the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
Control has extended from the disposal of waste to include the storage,
treatment, recycling and transportation of waste. Much of the UK legislation on
waste management is also implemented as a result of European Directives
including the Directive on Waste (Waste Framework Directive) 1975 and the
Directive on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control 1996.
Nationally, the UK has a number of other relevant targets that CKH needs to
work towards achieving. This includes requirements for new builds including
the Code for Sustainable Homes, the Housing Act 2004, and Decent Homes
Standards.
3.3 Local drivers
CKH is located in Peterborough. The city was designated as an
‘Environmental City’ in 1992, one of only four such designations in the UK.
Peterborough is now the UK’s Home of Environment Capital - a place where
environmental issues are put first in a city which aspires to be a role model
and leader in all aspects of sustainable development.
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Peterborough aims to raise the bar for sustainable development across the
country. The Environment Capital will be used to pilot new solutions for all
aspects of the sustainability agenda and ensure that the UK leads the world in
solving our environmental challenges.
As part of this commitment the city aims to reduce carbon emissions by 35%
of 2008/9 levels by 2014. In order to achieve this, Peterborough has adopted
a new major environmental capital policy outlining the city’s plans. This sits
above all decisions in areas including transport, waste, open spaces and
housing, and means that the impact on the environment must be considered
in all cases. A new benchmark system has also been developed which
requires council and other bodies to prove their green progress to ensure
preservation of our environment.
Success in achieving these aims will be directly related to the support and
actions of every resident, business and organisation in the city. In order to
help achieve this, a number of organisations are working in partnership to
achieve a common goal. This includes Peterborough Environment City Trust,
Peterborough City Council, Opportunity Peterborough, Peterborough
Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Peterborough Partnership. Working
together the partnership has produced a manifesto which sets out intentions
for reducing the impact on the environment. This focuses on four priority areas
including:
 Conserving natural resources- including water and energy consumption,
reducing waste and increasing recycling rates
 Environmental goods and services- support and encourage businesses
to grow and thrive in the city
 Sustainable transport- make the city more accessible by encouraging
the use of public transport, cycling, walking and car sharing
 Cleaner is greener- improve the cities green infrastructure including
parks, gardens, energy and water. Also improve quality of local public
spaces, wildlife habitats and access to natural green spaces
CKH has also developed its own manifesto in line with this and fully supports
the city’s targets.
The partnership has also set up a not for profit local accreditation scheme:
Investors in the Environment. It has been designed to help meet the above
targets, focusing on businesses in Peterborough reducing waste and
increasing energy efficiency. This is something we will work towards
achieving. This strategy as well as our senior representation from CKH on the
partnership will help us to deliver against environmental targets generally.
3.4 Company drivers
CKH has three driving forces of:
1. Ambition- to improve peoples lives through our ability to inspire,
motivate and give hope to individuals and communities
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2. Challenge- to provide homes, neighbourhoods and services that our
customers and stakeholders can respect and take pride in and that
other organisations aspire to
3. Spirit- one team setting high standards and exceeding them
This strategy also links to our seven corporate objectives within CKH strategic
bridges’ document:
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Objective one – landlord services
To manage and maintain our homes to the highest standards
Objective two – our communities/Quality of life
To improve our residents’ quality of life and to make communities
places where people want to live
Objective three – new services/Innovation
To provide a range of services through opportunity, excellence and
innovation
Objective four – our growth
Offer opportunities to all through developing a larger forward thinking
organisation
Objective five – finance and governance
To achieve the highest level of business excellence
Objective six – our customers
To deliver the highest standards of customer care and to promote
diversity, equality and social cohesion
Objective seven - our people
To be a caring and motivating employer of choice
4. Equality and diversity
This strategy has been developed in light of the new Equalities Act 2010 and
does not discriminate against any of the nine recognised characteristics under
this legislation.
5. Aims and objectives
The aim of this strategy is to ensure we are working towards reducing our
environmental impact. We will look at six areas in particular, including the
following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Our carbon footprint
Energy efficiency
Sustainable procurement
Sustainable travel
Waste management and minimisation
Water management, flooding and coastal erosion
We will put arrangements in place to deliver the outcomes of this strategy. We
will raise awareness of the key environmental issues among staff, contractors,
tenants and key stakeholders and work towards achieving environmental
accreditations and other city wide targets. Our action plan will be regularly
reviewed and updated to ensure it represents all targets, which will be
managed by the Green Scene working group.
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We will also ensure that tenants and the community are provided with
information about climate change and mitigation measures they can
implement through our tenants’ newsletter and information packs, and by
holding workshops and events with our tenant involvement groups.
5.1 Our carbon footprint
CKH is actively working to reduce its carbon footprint. We have reached the
prime objective of our previous strategy which was to establish our footprint
and use it as a benchmarking platform. At present, CKH’s carbon footprint is
388.80 tonnes (CO2e). This covers gas and electricity usage, and vehicle fuel
emissions at head office and our area offices.
We have also managed to invest in local schemes, including green gyms and
a number of community projects. We will now invest in local carbon offsetting
schemes such as the Peterborough forest to help ensure we are putting back
into the environment (target S-1b of action plan).
CKH’s has committed to reducing the carbon footprint by 11 per cent of 2008
baseline by 2011. This will allow us to meet the local target of an 11 per cent
reduction in per capita emissions over three years. This will put us in line with
the UK target under the Climate Change Act 2008, which requires a 34 per
cent reduction in carbon emissions by 2020 (target S-1a/O-5b of action plan).
Monitoring our carbon footprint will also highlight areas of concern across
CKH, for example particular activities or equipment that is producing high
levels of emissions. We can then address these specifically and set targets for
more drastic reductions in emissions. Once we have reached the 2011 target,
we will ensure that our carbon footprint is reduced by 5 per cent each year.
This will be based around improvements in our offices and business activities
and will not include housing stock emissions, which are currently measured
through Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) ratings and our completion
against the Decent Homes standard (target S-1a/O-5b, A-1e of action plan).
5.2 Energy efficiency
CKH is improving energy efficiency in a number of ways. Due to the nature of
the organisation, the actions we take to improve energy efficiency cover
activities directly at our offices, as well as the housing we provide; looking
both at constructing sustainable housing and providing decent homes. We
consider all options; looking at where renewables could be implemented
across the organisation.
Offices
We have been working to reduce the total energy we consume across our
offices and in our daily activities. From 2008/09 to 2009/10, we have managed
to reduce the consumption of gas by 58.9 per cent and electricity by 68.8 per
cent. This has been achieved by replacing some office equipment such as
printers, copiers, and boilers with more energy efficient ones.
We will continue to further reduce our energy consumption across the
organisation and as part of this have worked towards achieving the
appropriate accreditations including ISO 14001 and locally the Investors in the
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Environment. In May 2011, we were awarded ISO 14001 and we achieved the
Investors in the Environment accreditation in March 2011.
These measures will also allow us to improve our energy readings year-onyear. In doing so we would like to reach an ‘A’ rating on our energy certificates
(target O-1b/O-1c of action plan).
Working with our tenants
We will work with our tenants to further improve energy efficiency. We will
offer advice and give guidance to tenants on how they can reduce their own
carbon footprint and save money at the same time. This will help to raise
awareness of the main environmental issues among tenants and provide them
with a better understanding, which will allow them to make more informed
decisions and lifestyle changes (target T-1a/T-2c of action plan).
Building sustainable homes
CKH is working towards the sub-regional housing target and aims to build 500
new homes a year to achieve this. To ensure we build energy efficient homes,
we will comply with the Building Research Establishments Environmental
Assessment Method (BREEAM) requirements; The Code for Sustainable
Homes. We aim to achieve level 4 on any new homes that we build by 2012
(target D-1c of action plan).
In addition to this we will ensure all our homes meet the governments A-C
performance rating by 2015. We will consider the insulation in properties as
well as boilers installed, and will incorporate renewable options into new
housing when possible (target A-1a, A-1b, A-1c of action plan).
CKH will also consider energy efficiency in its planning operations. New build
homes will feature land-use patterns which seek to reduce travel by car and
work in harmony with the environment and wildlife. All of these targets will
help CKH to achieve the government aspiration to achieve 100 per cent zero
carbon new homes by 2016.
Decent homes standards
CKH will continue to deliver its improvement programme to enable 100 per
cent of our homes to meet decent homes standards. Although we have
achieved the government’s 2010 target with 100 per cent decent homes, this
will need to be maintained and we aim to exceed this through our own CKH’s
Home Improvement Standard.
Under the standard, CKH will monitor heating and water systems in homes
every five years to ensure they are efficient, and will upgrade systems when
necessary. The standard also covers non-effective insulation in homes, as
well as energy efficiency ratings (SAP). It exceeds government standards and
so helps to ensure CKH is doing as much as possible to provide decent
homes, above what is required legally (target A-1e of action plan).
Renewable energy - our existing homes and offices
As the government is seeking to reduce electricity dependence and
encouraging the switch to renewable energy sources such as solar and wind
energy, CKH is trialling renewable energy programmes across our existing
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housing stock through pilot schemes with Eaga and the Building Research
Establishment (target T-4a/T-4b of action plan).
In order to meet the renewable energy challenges, CKH will also:
 Consider the feasibility of switching to renewable energy supplies for
our head office to enable us to generate our own sustainable energy
and reduce fuel bills
 Aim to utilise feed-in tariffs for electricity generation in our housing
stock. Feasibility assessments of existing pilot schemes will allow more
specific targets to be set in April 2011
 Build upon existing relationships with environmental specialist
agencies, to develop and deliver renewable energy opportunities,
projects, services, products and advice. The aim will be to significantly
extend renewable energy sources to our existing housing stock to
enable sustainable energy supplies and tackle fuel poverty issues via
our financial inclusion strategy which is under the umbrella of our
community strategy
5.3 Sustainable procurement
CKH will procure environmentally sustainable goods and services wherever
possible. This includes the purchasing of general office stationary and
cleaning materials such as Ecover. We will ensure these are always
environmentally safe and friendly (target G-2a of action plan).
We also aim to green our supply chain by actively seeking to use local
suppliers. We believe that sourcing goods and materials through local
suppliers will reduce the impact that transportation has on the environment.
In order to ensure sustainable procurement we have also produced a Green
purchasing procedure. This ensures that we evaluate all options when
purchasing, for example considering the cost of green energy procurement
against conventional methods before entering into and renewing contracts
(target G-1a of action plan).
We will continue to work closely with our suppliers to ensure they are aware of
our environmental commitments and our Green purchasing procedure. This
makes them aware of the standards we expect. In cases where our suppliers
own policies do not match our requirements, we will ask that they sign up to
CKH’s Green purchasing procedure and will take action against those we
believe to be acting inappropriately.
5.4 Sustainable travel
In 2008 the city’s carbon emissions totalled 1,325 kt C02, of which transport
contributed 433 kt C02. This equates to 7.8 tonnes per capita of which
transport contributes 2.6 tonnes per capita.
The latest Travelchoice research also highlights the following:
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On average, people in Peterborough increased the time they spent
using active travel modes on a daily basis by 16% between 2004 and
2008
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There was a reduction of 31 million car kilometres per year on 2004
levels by 2008, leading to a saving of 6,400 tonnes of CO2 per year
Cycling, in particular, showed a substantial potential for further growth,
providing a viable alternative for 42% of local car trips in 2008, up from
26% in 2004
From 2004-2008, there was a 9% reduction in car driver trips per
person per year, a 14% increase in walking trips, 12% increase in
cycling trips and 35% increase in public transport trips
The data suggests that there is potential for further improvement and CKH will
ensure that sustainable travel continues to be promoted across the
organisation.
CKH has been successful in developing a sustainable travel scheme, and
much of the work to promote sustainable travel will be achieved through this.
We will continue to develop the travel plan to increase awareness of the key
issues among staff, ensuring positive change is made. Our travel plan also
highlights our commitment to reducing single occupancy use of vehicles, and
promoting car sharing, cycling and the use of public transport by staff. These
are areas we will focus on (target TT-1d/TT-2a of action plan).
We will also continue to work with our tenants to promote smarter use of
transport and to implement ways of reducing the need for them to travel for
meetings with us altogether (target TT-4a of action plan).
CKH operates a small fleet of vehicles to conduct areas of its business. We
have already replaced two of the oldest estate ranger vans with diesel vans
that produce fewer emissions. However, we will continue to replace fleet
vehicles if necessary, to ensure they are as environmentally friendly as
possible.
CKH will further tackle the emissions caused by vehicles, by:
 Reducing emissions from the organisation’s fleet. This is part of our
company policy and is something we will continue to improve
 Delivering CKH’s sustainable travel scheme to reduce emissions for all
staff travel. This includes conducting a travel survey, the use of pool
cars, setting up a car sharing scheme, setting mileage reimbursement
rates at levels that discourage additional travel and prohibiting use of
older high polluting vehicles
 Promoting the use of our shower and cycle storage facilities to
encourage cycling
 Communicating the adverse effects that vehicle carbon emissions have
on climate change to our tenants and supply advice for more
sustainable modes of travel
5.5 Waste management and minimisation
We are developing a company-wide waste management procedure to enable
us to manage waste more effectively. As part of this we will develop a system
to record and monitor all waste data. We will establish our total waste and
recycling figures in order to set targets for improvement. We aim to increase
our recycling and waste recovery rates, and will set targets based on the
findings of this data collection (target O-3b and O-3c of action plan).
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We will apply the principles of the waste hierarchy to the waste produced at
CKH and use it to guide us in making decisions across all activities. This will
enable us to consider where the production of waste can be prevented
altogether and how the total amount of waste sent to landfill can be reduced.
Through the waste management procedure we will ensure we re-use, recover
and recycle as much as possible. We will also ensure we work with our
contactors who use our warehouses to reduce the risk of pollution to land and
water from wastes produced.
5.6 Water management, flooding and coastal erosion
Water management and minimisation
CKH will manage and minimise water consumption across its offices in order
to preserve water reserves which are being diminished by unsustainable
usage. The main use of water at CKH’s head office is through the two
kitchens, six toilets and the staff shower.
Some action has already been taken to improve efficiency, including the
installation of water saving devices in toilet cisterns, the use of spray taps and
through changing water boilers in kitchens so they are on timers. Action now
needs to be taken to further improve these measures (target O-2b/O2d of
action plan).
CKH will also work with tenants to raise awareness of the need for water
conservation. We will provide information about how to save water and the
benefits of doing so (target T1a of action plan).
Releases of water through the drainage system can also give rise to pollution
incidents so also needs management. A water management procedure will be
developed to identify drains and state the rules for using them. This will be
communicated to contractors to ensure they are aware of their responsibilities
towards preventing pollution (target O-7a/O-7b of action plan).
Peterborough flooding and coastal erosion
Research estimates for flood and storm damage for East Anglia have
indicated that this could be up to £950 million per year by 2050. Large areas
of Peterborough are already at risk of flooding due to overflow of the River
Nene and inadequate drainage capacity.
Research also demonstrates how areas such as the wash are in danger of
severe flooding. Peterborough and surrounding areas are at risk of potentially
being placed under-water in the long-term, in the event that insufficient action
is taken to put coastal barriers in place to protect the land and address
continual rising sea levels. CKH as a major stakeholder within Peterborough
will work to influence policy-makers and strategic bodies at all levels to ensure
that action is taken to address coastal erosion and protect high risk, low lying
land in the East of England (target S-1e of action plan).
6. Third sector declaration on climate change
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CKH is signed up to the Third Sector Declaration on climate change, in our
capacity as a not-for-profit, charitable organisation. This means that CKH
commits the organisation to facing the challenges of climate change by:
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Recognising the need for urgent action at all levels to combat
climate change
Adopting plans to reduce carbon emissions
Enabling members, service users and clients to meet this challenge
and reduce their own carbon emissions
Supporting national legal targets for green housing emissions
Working in partnership with Government and others to reach or
exceed these targets
Working together as a sector to inspire and encourage action on the
issues
7. Responsibilities
The introduction and implementation of this strategy is a commitment of
CKH’s management and a shared responsibility with our employees. The
management board approves a revised and updated version of the strategy
every three years, and reviews progress against the action plan annually.
Delegation of authority to deliver the action plan and undertake interim
management reviews is given to the director of operations and project group
Green Scene. All members of the organisation also have a personal
responsibility for reducing their impact on the environment.
8. Communication
The environmental sustainability strategy will be made available to all
employees, contractors and any external interested parties. This will be
available on the Green Scene intranet page for staff, and communicated to
external interested parties via the company website. It will also be
communicated to persons working for or on behalf of the organisation through
the company induction process.
The aims of this strategy will continually be communicated to staff and our key
stakeholders through the communications and continuous improvement team.
The team will ensure that key messages are always put across to the relevant
persons. This will be achieved through a number of mechanisms, as identified
in the environmental communications procedure.
9. Monitoring and review
Green Scene oversees the implementation of the strategy through regular
review of the company’s performance and progress towards achieving the
strategy objectives. This is discussed bi-annually at Green Scene meetings.
The need for annual review will be monitored by the head of communications
and continuous improvement, where significant changes in legislation,
regulation or good practice have occurred, to enable our documents to remain
current and reflect best practice.
The strategy will be maintained and amended as necessary by the
communications and continuous improvement team, in tandem with the
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respective policy, every three years in accordance with CKH’s continuous
improvement framework.
The green champion for CKH is Claire Higgins, as chair and sponsor of Green
Scene.
10. Related documentation and references
This policy should be read in conjunction with the following:
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Environmental sustainability policy and manifesto action plan
Environmental management manual
Growth and development strategy 2010-2013
Compliance register
Waste management procedure
Water management procedure
CKH travel plan
Green purchasing procedure
Environmental communications procedure
References
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Assessment of energy saving opportunities for Cross Keys Homes,
Carbon Trust, August 2007
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BREEAM and the CfSH - http://www.breeam.org/page.jsp?id=86
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Climate Change Act 2008 http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/legislation/cc_act_08/key_docs
/key_docs.aspx
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Control of Pollution Act 1974
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Environment Agency: Climate Change and Energy http://www.environmentagency.gov.uk/research/library/position/34155.aspx
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Environmental Protection Act 1990
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Greater Peterborough Partnership http://www.gpp-peterborough.org.uk/
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Investors in the Environment - http://www.iie.uk.com/
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ISO 14001: 2004 – http://www.iso.org/iso/home.html
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Opportunity Peterborough - http://www.opportunitypeterborough.co.uk/
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Peterborough Chamber of Commerce http://www.cambridgeshirechamber.co.uk/peterborough/homepage.asp
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Peterborough City Council http://www.peterborough.gov.uk/environment.aspx
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Peterborough Environment City Trust - http://www.pect.org.uk/
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Site review report of Cross Keys Homes, BeMS, June 14, 2006
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Third Sector Climate Change Declaration http://www.everyactioncounts.org.uk/declaration/
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United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change http://unfccc.int/2860.php
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