We've demonstrated our green credentials for the twelfth year
We have achieved the 'Green Award' accreditation from Investors in the Environment (iiE) for the twelfth consecutive year.
As the region's largest provider of social and affordable housing and care, we recognise our responsibility to the environment and the people in our communities and we have set testing targets in order to reduce our carbon footprint and so protect the planet for future generations. Thus, we have been accredited to iiE since 2011, having achieved its highest level Green Award accreditation for the first time in 2014.
We have adopted the UN's Sustainable Development Goals for our environmental strategy, which allows us to reduce our external impact and ensure the continual improvement of our performance. We are also monitoring our performance against the Sustainability Reporting Standard for Social Housing.
Despite the ongoing challenges facing the housing sector, and our need to provide extra support to our residents and communities in light of the cost of living crisis, we have remained committed to reducing our carbon footprint and doing all we can to tackle the climate emergency. Our programme of home improvements is continually improving the energy performance of homes, and we are committed to building more energy efficient, affordable homes in the region. We also support community gardens and green spaces and support people into work and training through our community hubs and Careers Clubs.
As the report concludes: “CKH has maintained a strong commitment to sustainability and continues to demonstrate good environmental management. A particular strength is the breadth of CKH's ESG programme, across a wide range of environmental and social projects. The organisation also continues to make progress towards its long-term housing decarbonisation ambitions through its asset management approach and ongoing energy efficiency improvements.”
Our Chief Executive Claire Higgins said: “We are living through a very serious climate emergency and all of us, individuals and businesses have a responsibility to do all we can to tackle it. Our work on improving the energy efficiency of our homes has the added benefit of reducing energy costs for our residents - so critically important in the current cost of living crisis.
“We are proud to have achieved this highest level accreditation from iiE for so many years. It demonstrates that our commitment is real and that we are making a true difference. We are determined to do all we can to make the lives of people in our homes, and in the wider community, better, now and for the future. We are doing so much more than improving our homes. Our community investment programme ensures we are also supporting people into work and economic independence, improving their health and wellbeing and making our communities great, greener spaces for people to enjoy.”