COP26 might be drawing to a close, and climate change might not be in the news as much.
But for us, the work is only just picking up speed.
We're your landlord - not your gas/electric supplier. We don't build cars or produce food. So, you might be wondering what our role is in the climate change conversation and why we're planning to work with you more closely in the future on cutting carbon.
Why does housing matter?
Our homes have a bigger role in the climate change issue than you might think. Here are a few facts:
- England's homes produce more carbon than all our cars combined. Making our homes carbon neutral would achieve the same as taking all the cars in Manchester and Birmingham off the road!
- Only 17% of UK homes were made from 1990 onward, so lots of our homes are older and less energy efficient.
- We'd need billions of trees to balance the carbon we use to heat our homes.
- B3Living homes emit more than 12,000 tonnes of CO2 per year - more than our vans, office, and everything else we do combined.
The UN says that, if we do nothing, climate change will cause aver- age global temperatures to increase beyond 3°C. This could mean storms, food or water shortages, and other problems. Find out more here.
So, what now?
We've brought in a Sustainability Lead to sort out some big projects that will help us tackle our carbon footprint. It's also one of the seven main themes in our Better Futures strategy - as our Chair of the Board explains (click here to read).
We've started looking at things like...
- Electric car charging points and vans (all our vans are now hybrids)
- Grants and funding
- Water saving devices
- and more.
There's a lot to do and we're looking to involve you in this as we learn more. If you feel passionate about the environment or would like to be involved in our decisions, please consider joining our Customer Community network - click here to find out more.