Smart buildings
Banks the world over are increasingly conscious of the environmental impact resulting from their fi nancing and operations. For many institutions, their estate is a signifi cant challenge, particularly as buildings age and adaptations are no longer an option. Andrew Tunnicliffe talks with NatWest’s Allan Wickham and Lloyds Banking Group’s David Blott about the technologies they’re using and why they’re only half the answer.
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Build for the
16 future
n May 2021, a group of environmentalists made a surprising claim: if the UK’s biggest banks and investors were a country, they’d rank ninth in the world in terms of carbon emissions. That’s the takeaway from a study recently commissioned by Greenpeace and the WWF into the emissions associated with the global investments of 15 UK banks and the country’s ten top asset managers. It’s a criticism the sector would probably find difficult to counter right now, though to be fair, the study’s conclusion was based on investments and not banks’ own practices. If it were, the story might be coloured somewhat differently. At any rate, banks certainly understand the scale of the challenge – and are determined to overcome it. “We’re committed to the climate challenge and doing what we can to fight it,” says Allan Wickham, NatWest Group’s head of property specialist services. “That means embedding climate into the decision- making across the bank, giving our staff the tools and training, and embedding sustainability into all parts of our business.” In 2020, the bank reached net zero emissions and Wickham says work is under way to becoming “climate positive” by the middle of the decade. It’s a position shared by David Blott, future of work and business design director at Lloyds Banking Group, who says his organisation has been working on reducing its carbon emissions for many years. “Between 2014 and 2019 we reduced our direct carbon emissions by about 85%; so, we’re already a long way into that journey. But there’s a huge amount more to be done.”
In March 2021, Lloyds updated its climate pledges, including a target to reach net zero by the end of the decade. Aimed at its operations, the revisions – which related to buildings and travel – would help ‘accelerate’ plans to tackle climate change by reducing Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 75% of 2018/19 levels. The Greenhouse Gas Protocol is an international tool classifying emissions, as Scopes,
Future Banking /
www.nsbanking.com
Lloyds Banking Group
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