Climate Change Data

Gresham House

Climate Impact & Sustainability Data (2020, 2021, 2023)

Reporting Period: 2020

Environmental Metrics

Total Carbon Emissions:Not disclosed
Scope 1 Emissions:Not disclosed
Scope 2 Emissions:Not disclosed
Scope 3 Emissions:Not disclosed
Renewable Energy Share:Not disclosed
Total Energy Consumption:485,000 MWh/year
Water Consumption:Not disclosed
Waste Generated:300,000 tons/year (diverted from landfill)
Carbon Intensity:Not disclosed

ESG Focus Areas

  • Climate Change
  • Biodiversity
  • Affordable Housing
  • Digital Inclusion
  • Diversity & Inclusion

Environmental Achievements

  • Investing in the first unsubsidised renewables site
  • Developing a carbon credit forestry opportunity
  • 9 million trees planted
  • 720,000 tonnes of CO2 avoided by generating renewable energy
  • 300,000 tonnes of waste expected to be diverted from landfill

Social Achievements

  • Launching a shared ownership housing fund
  • Investing in two businesses that plan to connect 5,000 homes in remote areas to the internet
  • Published first Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Policy
  • Committed to the #100BlackInterns initiative
  • 171 shared ownership properties brought into the affordable housing market

Governance Achievements

  • Sustainability objectives now form part of all colleagues’ objectives
  • Appointed a sustainable investment director
  • Improved PRI scores

Climate Goals & Targets

Long-term Goals:
  • Net zero emissions
Medium-term Goals:
  • Not disclosed
Short-term Goals:
  • Not disclosed

Environmental Challenges

  • Measuring environmental and social outcomes
  • Greenwashing concerns
  • Intermittency of renewable energy generation
  • Land use for renewable energy
  • High energy use in vertical farming
Mitigation Strategies
  • Developing a carbon credit forestry opportunity
  • Implementing ESG Decision Tools
  • Introducing batteries into the electricity grid
  • Exploring biodiversity improvement projects at solar sites
  • Using LED lighting and renewable energy in vertical farming

Supply Chain Management

Supplier Audits: Not disclosed

Responsible Procurement
  • Not disclosed

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Physical Risks
  • Not disclosed
Transition Risks
  • Not disclosed
Opportunities
  • Investing in renewable energy, forestry, and sustainable infrastructure

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: PRI, SASB

Certifications: ISO 9001

Third-party Assurance: Not disclosed

UN Sustainable Development Goals

  • Not disclosed

£394,000 paid to community benefit funds supporting various SDGs

Sustainable Products & Innovation

  • Not disclosed

Awards & Recognition

  • LSE Green Economy Mark
  • Pensions for Purpose Best Strategy Thought Leadership content award

Reporting Period: 2021

Environmental Metrics

Total Carbon Emissions:91.71 tCO2e/year
Scope 1 Emissions:42,070 tCO2e/year
Scope 2 Emissions:99,199 tCO2e/year
Scope 3 Emissions:155,951 tCO2e/year
Renewable Energy Share:Not disclosed
Total Energy Consumption:Not disclosed
Water Consumption:624 m3/year
Waste Generated:15 tons/year
Carbon Intensity:1.30 tonnes of CO2e per £1mn of revenue

ESG Focus Areas

  • Climate change
  • Natural capital
  • Biodiversity
  • Social inequality
  • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)
  • Community care and engagement
  • Employment, health, safety and wellbeing
  • Commitment to sustainability
  • Risk and compliance
  • Governance and ethics
  • Marketplace responsibility
  • Supply chain sustainability

Environmental Achievements

  • 7.6 million trees planted
  • 490.5 GWh renewable electricity generated by wind and solar assets
  • 85% of forests under management are certified under national or international standards
  • 1.5 mtCO2e carbon sequestration

Social Achievements

  • Launched a new fund aiming to plant 10,000 hectares of new forests over three years
  • 154 new homes constructed
  • 19,700 homes passed with full-fibre broadband
  • £483,000 paid to community benefit funds
  • 96% employee advocacy score
  • Developed first DEI strategy

Governance Achievements

  • Established a Board-level Sustainability Committee
  • Established the Sustainability Executive Committee
  • Developed ESG KPI banks
  • Became UK Stewardship Code signatories
  • 37 Governance-focused engagements completed by the UK Public Equity team

Climate Goals & Targets

Long-term Goals:
  • Further development of measurement suite
  • Further development of Sustainability team and wider sustainability upskilling and training
Medium-term Goals:
  • Biodiversity measurement
  • Biodiversity enhancement action plans
  • Embed ESG KPI banks
  • Evolve impact measurement framework
  • Develop next generation of GH25 Corporate Sustainability Strategy (e.g., GH30)
Short-term Goals:
  • Finalise carbon emission targets
  • Expand investment offering
  • Implement Corporate Sustainability Strategy

Environmental Challenges

  • Data collection from private assets can be challenging
  • Understanding and managing sustainability-related risks in the supply chain of New Energy assets (forced labor, cobalt mining)
  • Understanding climate-related risks and opportunities across investee companies' operations
Mitigation Strategies
  • Committed to monitoring and analysis of investments and business activities across crucial ESG metrics
  • Established a Supply Chain Committee to develop and enhance processes regarding supply chain management
  • Updated contracts to include clauses mandating suppliers to declare that they have not been involved in any practices linked to modern slavery
  • Initiated a process to appoint a third-party provider to carry out a battery system supply chain audit
  • Using Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) battery chemistry instead of Nickel Manganese Cobalt (NMC)
  • Running educational webinars for management teams to better understand climate-related regulations

Supply Chain Management

Supplier Audits: Not disclosed

Responsible Procurement
  • Updated contracts to include clauses mandating suppliers to declare that they have not been involved in any practices linked to modern slavery
  • Use of LFP battery chemistry instead of NMC

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Physical Risks
  • Not disclosed
Transition Risks
  • Regulatory changes
  • Market shifts
Opportunities
  • Development of energy-efficient products
  • Investment in renewable energy and battery storage

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: UN Principles for Responsible Investment, Science Based Targets initiative (intended)

Certifications: Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC), Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), UK Woodland Assurance Scheme (UKWAS)

Third-party Assurance: Carbon Responsible

Sustainable Products & Innovation

  • New build homes with modern methods of construction and renewable energy solutions
  • Full-fibre broadband network

Awards & Recognition

  • Green Economy Mark from the London Stock Exchange

Reporting Period: 2023

Environmental Metrics

Total Carbon Emissions:1,108,341 tCO2e (2022); 1,056,944 tCO2e (2023)
Scope 1 Emissions:86 tCO2e (2022); 108 tCO2e (2023)
Scope 2 Emissions:38 tCO2e (2022); 29 tCO2e (2023)
Scope 3 Emissions:1,108,103 tCO2e (2022); 1,056,505 tCO2e (2023)
Total Energy Consumption:642 MWh (2022); 680 MWh (2023)
Carbon Intensity:1.5 tCO2e/FTE (2022); 2.6 tCO2e/FTE (2023)

ESG Focus Areas

  • Climate Change
  • Natural Capital
  • Social Impact
  • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI)
  • Governance

Environmental Achievements

  • Reduced operational Scope 2 emissions by 25%
  • Switched three largest office locations to renewable electricity providers
  • Forests sequestered 1.9mn tCO2e
  • Planted 6.4mn trees

Social Achievements

  • Introduced annual company-funded health assessments for employees
  • Delivered resilience training to all employees
  • Increased employee support through additional mental health first aiders
  • Donated £108,000 to various charities
  • Improved workforce gender diversity
  • Improved senior management gender diversity

Governance Achievements

  • Published inaugural Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) report
  • Mapped modern slavery risks across Real Assets supply chains
  • 20% of Group Management Committee annual variable compensation linked to non-financial objectives including ESG

Climate Goals & Targets

Long-term Goals:
  • Net-zero emissions by 2050 (target in development)
Medium-term Goals:
  • Grow sustainable and impact AUM by 2025
  • Enhance ESG data to drive investment decision making, engagement planning and stakeholder reporting by 2025
  • Ensure sustainable investment is consistently integrated across all divisions by 2025
  • Apply active ownership activities across all assets effectively and consistently by 2025
  • Set science-based targets on climate change for each division by 2025
  • Assess natural capital impact and dependencies across our assets; and develop market leading reporting and solutions by 2025
  • Understand material ESG risks across the supply chain of our most at-risk investments and put in place policies and processes to manage and mitigate these by 2025
  • Enhance Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) understanding and practices across our investments by 2025
Short-term Goals:
  • Upgrade 100% of non-exempt directly rented properties to a minimum of EPC C by 2025

Environmental Challenges

  • Elevated interest rates presented challenges for sustainable investing
  • Data quality and availability are typically poor in private markets (Scope 3 emissions)
  • Ongoing economic challenges and global uncertainties
Mitigation Strategies
  • Expanded efforts to collect, measure, and monitor ESG metrics
  • Improved data quality used in emission calculations
  • Developed robust sustainable investment policies and processes
  • Engaged with expert carbon consultants to improve data quality

Supply Chain Management

Supplier Audits: Audit of primary battery supplier CATL in 2022

Responsible Procurement
  • Responsible sourcing statement developed for Solar Energy UK
  • Solar Stewardship Initiative developed

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Physical Risks
  • Extreme weather events
Transition Risks
  • Regulatory changes
  • Market shifts
Opportunities
  • Renewable energy generation
  • Battery energy storage
  • Sustainable building materials
  • Carbon sequestration

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: TCFD, PRI, UK Stewardship Code, Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF)

Sustainable Products & Innovation

  • Sustainable forestry and afforestation
  • Renewable energy generation and battery energy storage
  • Sustainable building materials
  • Biodiversity net gain
  • Waste-to-energy solutions
  • Low-carbon homes

Awards & Recognition

  • LSE Green Economy Mark