At Grosvenor we take a long-term view.
This led us to an 8 year ‘no regrets’ retrofit programme investing £25m between 2013 – 2020 across our portfolio to improve the energy efficiency and climate resilience of buildings. It included low cost and affordable homes, retail and offices. But we knew we had to go further.
So in 2019, we made a commitment to be net zero carbon by 2030, 20 years ahead of the UK Government’s ambition. In 2020, we published a pathway to net zero carbon, setting out the targets we need to hit for each emission source and the tools to help us achieve it.
We are already on the ground delivering against this, implementing change across our business, buildings, developments and supply chain. The results are captured in our first annual report on Grosvenor’s net zero pathway, Going for Zero.
It shows that the momentum behind our £90 million energy savings programme is significant – this year we will complete over 175 projects saving 1,000 tonnes of carbon. The work includes replacing significant gas fired boilers with fossil fuel free alternatives and retrofitting entire terraces of listed buildings like a run of 15 offices in Buckingham Palace Road.
Almost 60% of Grosvenor’s emissions in 2019 came from our supply chain. And like other environmental leaders, we look to all our suppliers to challenge us and help minimise our carbon footprint. But we also need our partners to tackle their own emissions. So from 2023 we expect only to award contracts over £1 million to suppliers with a science-based target.
Meanwhile, across existing development projects, we’re driving down emissions all in sorts of imaginative ways through materials innovation, re-use and new design interventions, working together with our suppliers.
Now, just weeks before COP26, the sense of urgency is palpable. In the news, in the scientific consensus, and in increasing levels of activism in society. We have a rapidly diminishing window to get this right.
My response at Grosvenor is try and take our ambition one step further and this week we have published an offset strategy which significantly accelerates our contribution to tackling the climate crisis.
While emissions reduction remains our priority, offsetting is a vital tool in avoiding climate breakdown. So we will begin offsetting our business operations from 2021 and offset our entire business impact, across all scopes, by 2025 — five years early.
I think there’s an immediate need for carbon offsetting using nature-based solutions, as well as the technological innovations required to capture carbon from the atmosphere and lock it away. Grosvenor’s new offsetting strategy looks to support both of these objectives.
Taking early action and getting serious about offsets now, rather than in 2030, is not just the right thing to do. It also makes commercial sense. This is a nascent and rapidly evolving market. So getting in quickly will enable us to build good partnerships with the right people and invest intelligently in future carbon removal technologies.
I also genuinely want this action to help others in our industry take similar steps. This offset strategy is there to be used and borrowed. We’ll share our progress openly and do everything we can to help anyone in property not just reduce, but remove, the environmental impact of our sector.