Shaping our future Sustainability
Introduction
As director of The Crown Estate with responsibility for sustainability, I am delighted to introduce this account of our progress.
This has been a significant year at The Crown Estate, with the introduction of our new strategy for delivering on sustainability and the appointment of David McKnight, our first dedicated head of sustainability.
Our strategy is being delivered through four groups of employees, from all parts of our business, who have volunteered to champion our drive for the status of innovator. The champions are tackling issues outside their normal course of business and making decisions which will apply across the business as a whole. With the decisions coming from Crown Estate employees, we are truly embedding sustainability into our business.
As well as the excitement of developing new initiatives, this year has also seen us applying a fresh rigour to the collection and consolidation of data from our enormously diverse portfolio in order to ensure transparency in reporting our carbon, waste and water footprints, community investment and employee activities.
We have engaged independent third-party assurance for a selection of our 2009/10 carbon data and have used the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidance in our reporting approach, in line with emerging best practice. The below text summarises our progress. Further detail is available on our website.
By definition, sustainability involves perpetual evolution. Its application presents exciting challenges for any organisation and can bring significant rewards. In pursuing our goal of innovator status in delivering sustainability through our business, we are striving not only to address the challenges we face now with agility, but seeking to ensure we can continue to do so in the future.
Vivienne King
Director
(with responsibility for sustainability)
Our strategy
Sustainability is not new to The Crown Estate – it is integral to our long-established values of commercialism, integrity and stewardship. But in recognition of its importance to our business, we implemented a new sustainability strategy in 2009.
The standard we have set ourselves is to be an innovator. We recognise that we cannot be an innovator in everything we do, but we must be in the key sustainability issues for our business.
We have a well-established governance structure for sustainability that clearly defines roles and responsibilities and helps us implement our strategy. The board sustainability committee, chaired by our chief executive, has overall responsibility for our strategy and performance. The four sustainability pillars have dedicated employee ‘champions groups’, each led by a management board director. Their remit is to embed sustainability and develop the way forward. Each group’s progress is reported quarterly to the sustainability committee.
Engagement and materiality
We engage with stakeholders across our business on a regular basis, to understand the issues that are important to them and help us manage those issues effectively. We aim to be responsive and to share knowledge inside and outside the organisation.
We undertake a formal process to determine the most material issues for our business – taking account of business goals and the perspectives of our stakeholders. This is used to guide where we need to be an innovator. The material issues, together with the stakeholder engagement activities we conduct throughout the year, are then reflected in our reporting. Key topics are discussed in this report, with additional detail provided on our website.
How we operate
Where we directly manage property, through managing agents, we take clear and decisive action to implement our sustainability strategy. Our approach is to communicate our sustainability aspirations clearly, identify common goals and collaborate effectively with our customers. We offer our expertise and seek to embrace innovation and best practice.
The challenge remains to influence activities in those parts of the portfolio where we have limited control – for example over those properties held on long leases.
Sustainability strategy
We have a responsibility to bring benefits to our business and at the same time benefit the economy, communities and the environment - over the long term.
Working together
With our people, our customers, business partners and stakeholders.
Sustaining communities
Investing in and supporting communities.
Driving environmental value
Improving our performance and reducing our impacts.
Tackling climate change and energy security
Reducing our carbon footprint, adapting to a changing climate, and enabling renewable energy generation.
Achievements
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90% of targets achieved
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8% reduction in emissions from urban buildings under our control against a target of 3%
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2GW extension announced for Rounds 1 and 2 offshore development, in addition to the massive Round 3 and the first offshore wave and tidal leasing round
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108 properties covered by our environmental management system, which achieved ISO 14001 certification. Our occupational health and safety management system was also certified to OSHAS 18001, a full year ahead of schedule
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85% of waste at Windsor estate diverted from landfill, far exceeding our target of 40%
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New community investment strategy developed
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16% of employees participating in volunteering, exceeding our target
Challenges
- Increasing our influence – securing desired performance in those parts of the business where we do not have control, but can only use our influence, such as properties held on very long leases
- Improving our carbon footprint and reduction opportunities, particularly with older buildings
- Reducing water consumption
- Developing ways to measure the benefits of our community investment strategy
- Continuing to build open and transparent relationships by enhancing the way we engage and work with stakeholders