Establishing a carbon accounting method, using its Scottish estate to enable full-circle carbon offsetting and focusing on energy use throughout its supply chain all form key elements of Derwent London’s pathway to becoming a net-zero-carbon business by 2030.
Derwent London was one of more than 20 businesses that in September last year signed up to the Better Buildings Partnership’s Climate Commitment. The commitment not only saw the real estate firm pledge to be net-zero before 2050 (Derwent brought this in to 2030 in February), but to publish its pathway to how it was going to get to net zero before the end of this year.
The pathway outlines how the REIT is planning to further reduce energy and carbon emissions across its portfolio through the use of all-electric heating and cooling in new developments and retrofitting older properties, how the group plans to use renewable electricity and green gas to power its portfolio, including investigating ways to generate power from its 5,000-acres of land in Scotland, and how it plans to work more closely with its tenants to reduce emissions through its supply chain.
Derwent is also looking at how it can establish carbon accounting within the business, creating a metric that is understandable and measurable for the financing community. The tool, which is still in the testing phase, will enable the firm to establish the carbon liability of any acquisitions and the carbon benefit of redevelopment or repositioning of an asset.
As part of the BBP commitment, Derwent will disclose its progress against all the metrics set out in the pathway document on an annual basis.
Deloitte has been instructed to independently assure the pathway.
To find out more about how Derwent plans to get to net zero carbon by 2030 and what is driving its ambition to do so, listen to this interview with chief executive Paul Williams and head of sustainability John Davies.
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