The move comes two years ahead of the UK Government’s recently announced deadline for corporates to publish their pathway to their 2050 net-zero target. The fund will be used to finance a series of initiatives over the coming nine years to reduce Landsec’s carbon footprint and drive innovation and best practice across the wider industry.
The company has started to identify and implement a range of technologies and innovations to enable a transition to a low carbon world. This ambition was further increased in 2019 when the Group aligned its science-based targets with the 1.5 degrees global warming scenario–targeting a 70% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 compared with a 2013/14 baseline.
The £135m investment program will be used across the company’s entire portfolio. It is expected that 24,000 tons of carbon emissions will be removed from their operations–equivalent to over 35,000 return flights from London to New York.
The nine-year investment program will support Landsec’s decarbonization plans by:
- Reducing operational energy use through: Optimizing building management systems, using innovative Artificial Intelligence technologies and engaging our customers on energy efficiency to drive down consumption
- Moving to cleaner sources of energy through: Replacing gas-fired boilers with electric systems such as Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHP) and investing in renewable energy including adding onsite renewable capacity through more solar PV panels
Mark Allan, Landsec CEO said: “Our net zero transition investment plan is a significant commitment to ensure that Landsec delivers against its science-based target to reduce carbon emissions by 70% by 2030. We’re investing across our entire estate because we want to remain at the forefront of everything the property sector is doing to respond to the climate crisis. Never has it been more important to prioritize carbon reduction programs.”
The Forge is Landsec’s first net zero building on track to complete in October 2022 having achieved to date a 25% reduction in embodied carbon from the initial design stage. With increasingly clear evidence of stronger sustainability credentials underpinning stronger operational performance, it is not only essential from an environmental perspective but an economic one too.
