Environmental, Social and Governance Strategy 2023 – 2026

Introduction

Cross Keys Homes is a registered social landlord and a charitable Community Benefit Society based in Peterborough. We are more than just a landlord, we are Peterborough’s largest housing association – managing over 12,000 properties and providing homes for tenants, older people, shared owners and leaseholders across the East of England and the Home Counties.

We lease more than 70 shop units, rent out garages and manage short stay accommodation and extra care. We provide homes for people in need and keep them in good condition through our investment programme and repairs service. We carry out home improvements so people can live in modern, decent homes. We provide support services to help people live active,independent lives, which includes everything from sheltered housing through to Care and emergency LifeLine alarms and tenancy help. These services and many more aim to improve people’s lives through our ability to inspire, motivate and give hope to individuals and communities.

It is our aim to help our employees and residents have the best possible quality of life and for this   we need local areas which have a thriving local economy and neighbourhoods, strong communities and a sustainable way of life.

Peterborough (our core area) is the UK’s Home of Environment Capital and aims to deliver truly sustainable growth, ensuring a cleaner, healthier and more vibrant Peterborough for the future.It calls for everyone to collaborate to make Peterborough a better place to live, work and play. It places environmental issues at its heart.

Cross Keys Homes is committed to protecting our environment and supporting Peterborough’s Environment Capital vision. Our aim is to reduce the impact we have on the environment resulting from our business activities. This includes the use of energy, water, the production of waste and the use of transport. We are also committed to wider sustainability objectives,including preventing pollution, protecting wildlife and habitats, and helping our employees and residents be healthy, happy and thriving.

In order to achieve this, Cross Keys Homes will not only ensure full compliance with all relevant environmental legislation and other requirements to which we subscribe but will also use this Environmental, Social and Governance Strategy to provide a framework to achieve continual improvement and strive towards best practice. This will not only include the direct impacts the business has on the environment but will also consider indirect impacts and areas where we can exert influence to stimulate sustainable development. Cross Keys Homes will seek to educate and facilitate good environmental practice in partners, suppliers and stakeholders as well as the many residents and individuals that make use of our services.

The strategy will therefore cover all Cross Keys Homes’ activities, including offices and homes wemanage and business travel, and will also seek to influence those activities we cannot directly control, such as our supply chain, partners and users.

This strategy will run in conjunction with the business’ developing Net Carbon Zero Strategy, which focuses on housing stock and development.

 

Background

Peterborough 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. Peterborough City Council has also made the commitment to reach Net Zero by 2030, and to support the city in achieving this aim.

If everyone worldwide lived as the average, British or European citizen does, we would need three planets’ worth of resources to sustain us. This means, on average, each of us is using too much of the earth’s resources to produce the food we eat, treat the waste we produce, and generate the energy we use.

This needs to change, but in a way which also enhances our employees and residents’ quality of life. We need to become more self-sufficient and lead the way on living sustainably.

  Individuals can calculate how many planet’s worth of resources they consume using the calculator found here:http://calculator.bioregional.com/

Our strategy will adhere to the principles of the UN Social Development Goals (SDGs) and also cover the themes of the Sustainability Reporting Standard for Social Housing. The 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals, are an urgent call for action by all countries - developed and developing - in a global partnership. They recognise that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.

The Sustainability Reporting Standard for Social Housing (SRS) was launched in November 2020. The Standard was set up in response to concerns that ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) investment in social housing was being inhibited by the absence of a common reporting standard. As with many other sectors across the economy, there had been a multitude of ESG reporting frameworks, resulting in reporting that lacked transparency and was prone to inconsistency. Moreover, it was apparent many housing providers were being asked to report on ESG criteria not relevant to the social housing sector. The Sustainability Reporting Standard is a voluntary reporting framework, covering 48 criteria across ESG considerations such as zero carbon targets, affordability, safety and resident voice. CKH will report sustainability achievements against these standards.

 

SRS and UN Sustainability Goals

ESG area	Theme	Description	UN Sustainable Development Goals
Environmental	Climate Change	Prevents and mitigates the risk of climate change	Affordable and Clean Energy/ Industry Innovation and Infrastructure/ Climate Action
	Ecology	Promotes ecological sustainability	Life on Land
	Resource Management	Sustainable management of natural resources	No Poverty/Reduce Inequality/ Sustainable Cities and Communities
Social	Affordability and Security	Provides affordable and secure housing	Sustainable Cities and Communities
	Building Safety and Quality	Resident safety and building quality are well managed	Sustainable Cities and Communities
	Resident Voice	Listens to residents’ voice	Sustainable Cities and Communities
	Resident Support	Supports residents, and the local community	Sustainable Cities and Communities
	Placemaking	Supports residents and the wider local community through placemaking	Sustainable Cities and Communities
Governance	Structure and Governance	Legal structure of the organisation and its approach to Governance	Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
	Board and Trustees	High quality board of trustees	Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
	Staff Wellbeing	Supports employees	Decent Work and Economic Growth
	Supply Chain Management	Procures responsibly	Responsible Consumption and Production

 

Aims and Objectives

Cross Keys Homes will seek to address the relevant UN Sustainable Development Goals through long term aims   and key milestones, each of which will be achieved through specific actions set out in yearly action plans managed by CKH’s Change and Continuous Improvement group.

We recognise that we still have a long way to go before our organisation is net zero carbon – target 2050. Improving CKH’s environmental performance goes hand in hand with our five corporate objectives and distilled them into three environmental objectives.

These are:

• Our homes - making our homes more economical and comfortable places to live.
• Our communities - working with residents to lead change and have a more positive impact on the society we live in.
• Our business – adapting the way we work to limit our environmental impact

 

CKH and the new way of working

In March 2020, in line with government guidelines, CKH employees all started working from home. The business also paused business travel, reduced non-essential repairs and temporarily closed communal areas, community hubs and Customer Central. The business shifted its focus to supporting residents and employees through uncertain times.

As the pandemic restrictions eased CKH has continued to be a remote working organisation, and a new policy for the new way of working was implemented in September 2021 defining three working roles:

• Fixed (work at a specific CKH location)   22% of the workforce.
• Flexible (combination of CKH locations and home working) 41% of the workforce.
• Remote (home working) 37% of the workforce.

As a result of the pandemic CKH saw a 31% reduction in its carbon footprint from its baseline year. Electricity consumption reduced by 30% on the previous year’s consumption, water by 32% and paper by 62%. However, we know that energy consumption has shifted from head office to employees’ homes.

The carbon footprint of head office has increased slightly, due to use increasing following lockdowns. In 2022 and allocation of the carbon footprint included employees working from home (as worked out by the calculator) hence the increase of 55% in 2021/22 compared to 2020/21. Hence the year 2021/22 will become our new baseline year.

 

Our Homes

The homes CKH owns, and builds are the largest contributors to the business’ environmental impact. CKH can help to reduce the environmental impacts of its existing homes by installing renewable technologies, improving thermal efficiency and installing carbon reduction measures.

The Asset and Estates Management directorate have produced a Net Zero Carbon Strategy that will run alongside this strategy and define the approach CKH takes in reducing the carbon footprint of our existing homes and the homes we build in the future.

The net zero carbon strategy will cover the our homes objective and these UN Sustainability goals:

       

 Working with external consultant Anthesis, the net zero carbon strategy is included in the 2023 Business Plan due for Board approval April 2023. The initial focus is the circa 130 homes rate below C targeting the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund. Alongside this the strategy focuses on a fabric first approach eg ensuring highest levels of insulation whilst technology continues to develop and is testes within CKHs’ homes.

 

Our Communities 

 

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We don’t just build homes, we build communities. We want to support our residents to deliver their vision for the areas where they live, using our land, assets and expertise. For our communities we will provide support through the following key areas of work:

 

 Supporting our residents to reduce their environmental impact

We want to support our residents to reduce their environmental impact and live more sustainably. At the same time, we recognise our primary role as a landlord, so we will consult with our residents to better understand their needs and aspirations and will work in partnership to deliver these. We will do this through multiple channels, involving our residents at all stages of our sustainability journey.

We will consult with residents through our involved residents and other consultation channels to ensure their needs are reflected in the environmental and other work we do.

 

Reduce fuel poverty

We will develop a specific plan to address the current fuel crisis facing residents whilst we will continue to provide advice services and support to our residents experiencing fuel poverty.

We will continue to work with organisations such as PECT, LEAP and Anglian Water etc to support residents to reduce fuel poverty with initiatives such as installing water meters, removing pre-payment meters (when appropriate), providing solar panel usage and general  advice on reducing consumption and when available information on supplier switching services and identifying reduced energy tariffs.

 

Maximise our land and green spaces

We will take a ‘biodiversity first’ approach to managing our green spaces. This will focus on encouraging biodiversity, mitigating flood risk and enhancing the natural environment of our new developments and existing communities.

CKH will continue to support the WestRaven Community Garden and support its ambition to become a self-sustaining social enterprise.

CKH will develop a garden in Dogsthorpe to enable residents facing mental health challenges to get the benefit of green spaces and gardening. CKH will also look at additional opportunities to open up green spaces for local residents, for community gardening and recreation, to support government aims for all people to be within 15 minutes of green space.

 

Communicate with our residents

We will increase awareness of environmental issues with our residents and provide support with the efficient management of their home. This includes providing advice and information on any new or renewable technologies installed as part of our pilot programmes or other initiatives through tailored home user guides.

We will provide information through our social media channels and Keylines to support residents in ways they can be more environmentally friendly, and where possible reduce their household costs.

 

UN Sustainability goals met:

             

Our Business

We want our business to operate in a way that is sustainable, efficient and minimises our impact on the environment. We will continue to pursue the Investors in the Environment accreditation and it is our aim to retain the highest Green level of accreditation.

 

For our business we will:

Continue to monitor our Carbon Footprint

We will continue to monitor the Carbon Footprint of our head office. We will re-evaluate our base line based on our new way of working, to ensure we are working with the best possible figures.

We will investigate ways of reporting on the carbon footprint of employees working from home, in a way that does not cause our employees additional work.

 

 Access competitive, low-interest green finance

 We will seek to leverage our Strategy by accessing low-interest ‘green’ finance, demonstrating the impact of our environmental initiatives on our financial performance.

 

Reduce our transport-related carbon emissions

We will continue to review our transport fleet and investigate the cost/benefit pay off of electric vehicles. We will also implement better route planning via GIS to reduce mileage where possible and improve efficiency.

We will promote sustainable transport options to colleagues, including our Cycle to Work Scheme.

 

Maximise resource efficiency and waste reduction

We will continue to be a zero waste to landfill organisation and continue to reuse and recycle wherever possible.

We will review all printing needs across the organisation and continue with the drive to digital, making sure all communications are accessible to all residents.

 In 2020/21 we reduced paper consumption by 64% against our baseline year. We will continue work to ensure this reduction continues as use of the office increases. We will do this by rolling out the automation of internal processes through the intranet and continuing to build resident services through the website and MyCKH.

Our new office development will have environmental efficiency at its heart, to ensure it is delivering the best value for money and carbon reduction possible.

 We will continue with our green purchasing process, to ensure we are working with organisations that share our ethics and direction.

 

Work with colleagues in the delivery of our sustainability objectives

 We will work to engage our colleagues in the delivery of our sustainability objectives, explaining their role in supporting the changes required.

We will harness the resources of the wider business by re-launching our Green Champions programme, seeking motivated and passionate individuals that will assist with the required culture changes associated with our net zero carbon agenda.

 

Publicity and promotion

We will publicise our commitment to sustainability and maximise the investment we are making in sustainability initiatives by ensuring that promote the work that we are doing.

 

UN Sustainability goals met:

           

Management

Management of this strategy will be via the Cross Keys Homes Environmental Management  System which is overseen and monitored by Directors team.

 

Responsibilities

• It is the responsibility of Cross Keys Homes Board to approve this strategy and ensure that it is effectively implemented.
• The strategy will be monitored and updated by the Communications team and the Directors team which will also report progress and ensure that key milestones are achieved and corrective action taken when not.
• All employees and members are responsible for contributing to the key milestones and    commitments made in the strategy.
• Cross Keys Homes will also seek to work with partners, stakeholders and residents to influence them, provide assistance and ensure that they adhere to the principles outlined in the strategy.

 

Communication

This strategy will be made available through the company’s intranet and website.

Directors team will monitor progress and ensure that all employees are aware of the requirements placed upon them and progress towards  targets.

The Communications team will ensure that employees, tenants, stakeholders, partners                     and residents are informed of Cross Keys Homes aspirations and targets and inform them of ways that they can contribute to them.

 

Monitoring and review

The board will approve all new environmental strategies.

 Directors team will approve the action plan annually.

Directors team will delegate responsibility for the action plans to individual managers as appropriate and monitor progress at monthly meetings, using the key measures as outlined in the strategy and plan.