In an update on its sustainability strategy, the housebuilder said its targets were in line with the reductions required to limit global temperatures to an increase of 1.5°C.
It is currently calculating the precise targets through approval by Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTI). Details will not be confirmed until 2022. But Vistry’s current calculations set the group’s targets at a 42% reduction in operational carbon emissions by 2030 against a 2020 baseline, and a 56% reduction in value chain emissions by 2030 against the same year.
However, the business said it would adopt 2021 as its baseline, as this would be the first full operating year of the business in its current form following the merger of Bovis Homes with Linden Homes and Galliford Try Partnerships in January 2020. It is setting aside the “abnormal conditions” of 2020.
Vistry also said it was due to hand over the first of 54 net-zero regulated carbon emission homes, at Europa Way Triangle in Leamington Spa. These homes have improved insulation, air-source heat pumps, solar PV panels and ventilation with heat recovery technology. Vistry added that it had achieved a reduction in embodied carbon by using timber frame construction.
The business has taken learnings from these homes to produce a roadmap to building net-zero carbon homes, based on the UK Green Building Council’s (UKGB) definition of net-zero carbon. The roadmap’s target dates are:
- Zero Carbon “Ready” by 2025: This is the Future Homes Standard of a 75-80% reduction in carbon emissions (from 2013 Part L baseline)
- Net Zero Carbon Homes (in-use) by 2030: The designed carbon emission rate is “zero” for regulated energy with grid decarbonisation for unregulated energy
- Net Zero Carbon Homes (construction) from 2040: Carbon emissions associated with building homes are zero, including the emissions from the building’s products and construction operations.
Vistry is also working with the University of Exeter to develop future climate scenarios, responding to the requirements of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). The TCFD provides a framework to help organisations disclose climate-related risks and opportunities.
From 2022, Vistry said it would incorporate “meaningful and measurable” sustainability metrics into its executive remuneration, “underpinning our commitment to our sustainability strategy”.
Earlier this year, the business launched its sustainability strategy, focusing on three priority areas: operations, homes and communities and people. It said it was progressing well across all areas of the strategy.
