THN - Carbon Reduction Annual Report 2022/23

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The Housing Network More Than Our Future

Our Net Zero Commitment The Housing Network (THN) are committed to provide More Than a Roof to some of the most vulnerable in our communities. We believe that everyone deserves a safe, and stable place to call home, a place where they can rebuild their lives and look to the future.

However, no matter our background or circumstances we all call this planet home. So as the climate emergency unfolds around us, here at THN we are absolutely committed to ensuring More Than Our Future and More Than a Roof for more than ourselves.

We are proud to have worked with our teams across the organisation to develop and launch our Net Zero Commitment. A genuine and sincere commitment for us to understand our impact and to then work to innovatively and effectively reduce that over the coming years.

Understanding Where We Are We are only just starting our journey, and that journey must start with us understanding where we are and how far we must travel. So, like all journeys we must start with a first step and as part of our Net Zero Commitment we have worked hard to measure our current impact.

Using a blend of established methodologies, we have calculated our baseline emissions for our 2022/23 financial year. Splitting our emissions down into the three established Green House Gas (GHG) emission groupings, including an initial defined set of scope 3 emissions.

> Scope 1 : Direct Emissions (eg Fleet Travel, Direct Corporate Office Utility Emissions)

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> Scope 2 : Indirect Emissions (eg Purchased Utilities and Coolant Gasses) > Scope 3 : Scope of Defined and Measurable Emissions (eg Train and Air Travel) After carefully reviewing our internal records to identify sources and quantities of Scope 1 and 2 emissions we used the Carbon Trust SME Carbon Footprint Calculator to establish our total impact. We then worked with our THN team to identify a defined and measurable initial range of Scope 3 emissions.

Our initial assessment of Scope 3 emissions includes only our organisational train and air travel, as a defined and controllable sample of overall indirect and supply chain elements. We will work hard to expand our understanding and measurement of the full scope of this category of emissions in the coming years.

The impact of our current Scope 3 emissions was calculated in line with the principals of the Department for Transport Journey Emissions Calculation Methodology guidelines. This includes an 8% uplift for air travel in line with established UK calculation methodology.

Our Baseline Position As we start our journey to deliver on our Net Zero Commitment by 2050, we know where we are, and we know how far we have to travel together. It is a shared commitment right across our THN team as we work together to ensure we deliver More Than Our Future for this planet we all call home.

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Our baseline emissions of 145.6 tonnes of CO2 emissions include 142.5 tCO2e of Scope 1 emissions, which are from mainly our existing fleet and direct organisational use vehicles; 2.7 tCO2e of Scope 2 emissions, primarily from purchased electricity used within our corporate offices, and 0.4 tCO2e of emissions from our defined Scope 3 elements.

Principles and Approach We know we can’t do this alone and we know we need to work together with our team, our stakeholders and our residents. If we are going to ensure More Than Our Future for all of us who call this planet home then we need to communicate more, be efficient with our resources and where necessary mitigate and invest.

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Across our whole organisation we are committed to embedding our three core Net Zero Commitment foundations in everything we do. We will actively consider all our existing and new activities against these foundations, assessing their viability against more than simply their financial and social impacts.

As an organisation we will embed a new and additional measure of impact in our language and culture, that of environmental impact – minimising and mitigating it wherever we are able.

Activity and Action In order to achieve our Net Zero Commitment, we will maintain a constant and consistent focus on measuring our progress and being our best critical friend. Inviting comment, feedback and suggestion from all of our team, stakeholders and residents who are on the journey with us.

However, as we embark on our journey to ensure More Than Our Future, we have identified a number of key activities in each of our Net Zero Foundation areas. These have already been deployed and in some cases are already delivering positive impact and results.

> Foundation One – Communication • • • •

A constant and consistent visibility of messaging within all relevant communications.

Standing agenda item within all executive level meetings.

Dedicated executive sponsor to provide scrutiny and topic specific leadership.

Commitment to be transparent in our reporting against published objectives.

> Foundation Two – Efficiency • Deliberate targeting of our largest source of emissions (eg our fleet vehicles).

• Develop systems and reporting mechanisms to capture data and highlight opportunity.

• Embed technology within core areas to reduce / minimise excess travel.

• Commit to be data led in our efforts to be more efficient and less wasteful.

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> Foundation Three - Mitigation • • •

Invest in senior management resource to drive and champion our net zero journey.

Invest in new ICT systems to maximise efficiency and positive impact.

Invest in asset management resources to reduce direct / indirect emissions. • Explore and validate options for future carbon offsetting of residual elements.

As we progress along the early steps in our journey we will carefully monitor and review our Net Zero Foundation areas to ensure their effectiveness. Wherever necessary we will adapt and continuously improve our activities to ensure positive progress towards our Net Zero Commitment in 2050.

Our Net Zero Targets Whilst we recognise that we are only just starting our Net Zero Commitment journey, and there will be many things to learn along the way, we do want to be able to measure and assess our progress. With that in mind we have set three key Net Zero Targets over coming years.

The timeline below illustrates the initial years of our journey, which will see us target an overall minimum 80% reduction in our CO2 emissions (from our baseline levels) by 2033. To support our monitoring and continuous improvement efforts we have split this into three key stages.

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Our initial focus will be on embedding our Net Zero Commitment messaging across all organisational activities and communications. This will include all relevant internal and external channels, working hard to leverage support and develop a More Than Our Future culture from which we can build upon.

These early efforts will see us achieve a minimum 10% reduction in our emissions, predominantly from within our Scope 1 and 2 sources, seeing them reduce to less than 130 tCO2e by 2026.

With an embedded culture and shared Net Zero Commitment we will then embark on directly targeting our largest source of emissions, our fleet vehicles. This will be a considerable challenge and require significant investment, due to the extensive geographic area we operate, hence falling into stage two of our journey.

Alongside us targeting our fleet emissions we will simultaneously focus investment into our corporate office spaces and organisational ICT systems. With these targeted efforts combined with our focus on our fleet we will achieve a minimum 60% reduction in our emission, down to less than 60 tCO2e by 2030.

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The final stage of our journey will see a gradual and ongoing reduction in our emissions, resulting in a minimum 80% reduction by 2033. This anticipated level of less than 30 tCO2e will be a direct result of the increasing traction of our Net Zero Commitment culture and maximised ICT system effectiveness.

Intensity Measurement We are a fast-growing organisation, working hard to support individuals and families right across the UK to avoid the devastating impact of homelessness. The level of need in our communities is growing exponentially and as a result we are growing too.

This situation invariable means our overall level of emissions will increase, rather than reduce, due to the sheer nature of us requiring more vehicles, colleagues, and resources. With this in mind we have taken the decision to add an additional methodology of CO2 monitoring into our internal assessment and continuous improvement processes.

With this absolute measurement available to us we will be better able to assess our journey towards our Net Zero Commitment by 2050, as we continue to balance our efforts to deliver maximum social, financial, and environmental impact.

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Looking Ahead Whilst we are envisaging that the majority of emissions reduction will come from our Scope 1 and 2 sources, as they are more easily identified and directly controlled, we will expand our Net Zero Commitment to include a focus on Scope 3 emissions.

The nature of Scope 3 emissions and the complexity of accurate identification (and ability to control) from across our supply chain means this will be a significant task. Our aim is that early efforts to maximise the impact of our Net Zero Foundation One – Communication activity will support this process.

To avoid negatively impacting the delivery of our Target One, Two and Three objectives we will delay concentrated efforts to target Scope 3 emissions until these have been achieved. This will see us work to accurately identify and reduce Scope 3 emissions between 2033 and 2050.

This strategy will be aided greatly by the related efforts of those in our supply chain, ensuring a positive trajectory of reduction regardless of directly targeted effort by our THN team.

Summary We all call this planet home and regardless of our circumstances or background it offers us More Than a Roof and right now that it is under threat from a climate crisis.

Here at The Housing Network, we are absolutely committed to ensuring More Than Our Future as we start our journey to deliver on our Net Zero Commitment. We have identified our base level CO2 emissions and established three Net Zero Foundation principles and strategies to reduce them.

Working together across our organisation and with our team, our stakeholders, and our residents we will change our culture and our impact – we will deliver on our Net Zero Commitment by 2050!

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