Great Places works hard to reduce the environmental impact of its communities. We have released our Carbon Management Strategy that sets out how we will work towards realising our ambition of becoming a net zero carbon business.
Climate change is the greatest challenge facing the world. Extreme weather events, which is an outcome of climate change, is already impacting our customers, colleagues and stakeholders. Climate change is due to the increased use and burning of fossil fuels and Great Places can play our part by minimizing our energy use across every activity within the business and especially within our homes. Only by taking bold and radical action will Great Places be able to reduce carbon emissions and further limit consumption of scarce natural resources.
Government policy changes and future legislation consultation indicate that there will be increasing pressure in terms of legislation and financial penalties to encourage businesses to reduce their carbon emissions.
The effects of climate change are constantly in the media and our stakeholders, including colleagues and customers, are increasingly aware that Great Places needs to take positive and substantial steps to help reduce emissions and lead by example.
The Government has set a target of achieving zero net carbon by 2050. This is the minimum required by all businesses to avoid catastrophic run-away climate change. Local Authorities have subsequently set more challenging targets for example Greater Manchester has adopted
a target of 2038. Great Places hold stock across a number of Local Authority areas with differing targets. The approach for this Strategy is for Great Places to work towards becoming a carbon neutral organisation by 2038. Great Places will ensure that the same targets are applied to all properties, aligned with the 2038 net zero carbon target.
In 2018 Great Places launched its 10-year Corporate Plan ambitions and our visions and values are clear in including the commitment to maximise our investment in safe, sustainable homes. For the purpose of this Strategy a Sustainable home is one where the customer can afford to heat the home, one where we effectively coordinate Carbon Management, Investment and repair improvements to minimise disruption to the customer; and a home that is zero carbon ready. Meaning that as we invest, we are preparing the home to be ready to be zero carbon in the future.
The definition of carbon management is to manage our carbon emissions through prioritising areas that have the greatest impact and where we can make significant cuts in emissions without incurring excessive costs. This Strategy covers Carbon Management activities including: carbon footprint, targets, reduction and legislation. It will be reviewed every three years and supported by the Carbon Management Plan which details the actions required to ensure this strategy is a success.
