Setting a carbon reduction vision for your asset or portfolio

What sets the leading, high-performing sustainability organisations apart is not significant technical advantage or economic power - many have stumbled along the way, and organisations of all sizes have demonstrated it is possible to reduce carbon emissions.

The leading indicator that distinguishes high-performing organisations is their commitment to a purpose.

In the first instalment of our carbon roadmap blog series, Craig Needham and James Ashley delve deeper into the importance of a carbon vision for Real Estate asset owners and investment managers. We ask key questions to help you create a purposeful carbon reduction plan, with clearly defined principles, that drive commitment from your teams.

Later in this series, we look at:

• Using data and analysis to understand your current carbon performance 
• Being decisive on action areas to deliver your carbon roadmap
  

First things first, net zero is a huge opportunity

UK law requires emissions to be at net zero by 2050. This means a 100% reduction of GHG emissions by 2050 and a requirement to act by all companies within the UK.

There are a range of proposed government strategies to achieve this, with specific examples for Industry Decarbonisation and Heat and Buildings. But this can feel complicated, expensive, time-consuming, and comes at a trade-off against shorter-term business priorities

Yet, the built environment represents 40% of global emissions, and so provides an opportunity to make something meaningful happen. The reality is that most organisations want to make progress, and want to do so faster, but don’t know where to start. As a net zero operating partner, we’re here to help with questions exactly like this.

To address the question of where to start, let’s begin with some energising truths:

• The technology and expertise exist to reduce carbon emissions
• Nations, communities and customers are demanding that change happens
• There’s a legal requirement to change

One of the elements holding organisations back then could be where to get started. We break that down below.

Stage 1 - Clarify what you’re aiming for

Adopt a clear vision

A vision is important as it describes intent. It’s the overriding commitment made by an organisation to what they will achieve, and is a signal to the market and stakeholders on the future direction of the organisation.

Further, a clear and purposeful vision provides the support and motivation needed to overcome the inevitable obstacles and challenges that will appear when undertaking a complex change. Holding a conviction to achieving carbon reduction means the hard work will be undertaken to find the solutions, which is particularly important in organisations where experience or expertise may be immature, and therefore the nature of the challenges to overcome may be more daunting.

To create a purposeful carbon reduction vision, one effective method is to work backwards. To do so, consider the following questions:

• What would your organisation look like in a net zero condition 10, 20 or 25 years in the future?
• What type of products or services would you offer?
• What would employees and stakeholders say about your organisation?
  

Establish guiding principles

As a vision sets your intent and conviction. Your principles set the path. They are the frame for your decision-making. Principles are the criteria that set how you will achieve your vision, and therefore act as your decision-making boundaries.

Great principles are essential in providing consistency and an objective measure of conduct. Importantly, your principles must then be upheld, as if decisions are seen to be made contrary to the boundaries, people within the organisation will lose interest and respect for the carbon reduction vision quickly.

Effective principles are more than simply based on regulatory compliance or adhering to the minimum legal requirements. Brilliant organisations challenge to think where real differences can be made and go above-and-beyond the simple minimum requirements.

To define your principles, you can consider creating your own, however many frameworks already exist from which principles can be adopted. Here are three places to look:

• The Natural Step Framework
• The Zero Approach
• Ecological footprint
  

Gain alignment and commitment

Transformational change requires courageous leadership but must be done together with followership. Bring people into the conversation, seek active participation, and identify your champions to create an energy for carbon reduction.

Alignment and commitment are important as they help everyone move in the same direction. This benefits an organisation by:

• Increasing the connectedness of teams and coordination of activities, reducing the chance of a flurry of contrasting activities and reactiveness to events
• Building alignment effectively reduces the need for ‘change by decree’. Relying on power and authority to change toward carbon reduction can provoke resistance and make it difficult to develop and implement solutions. Conversely, by aligning people first you increase your chances of consistent messaging, and action, with a resultantly successful outcome

The message of alignment is an essential one in this case, as often organisations believe that to reduce carbon, they simply need to improve their emissions policies, prevent pollution, or design new recycling practices, usually with a significant investment in technology or management systems.

But if there’s confusion over purpose and goals, alignment and commitment is likely to be low, and progress will not get far before questions are raised, and the entire purpose of carbon reduction in the organisation is undermined. In the graphic below we show a simple framework for the alignment process.

To assess the success of your alignment process, consider asking your team these questions:

• Do you believe the carbon reduction vision presents an inspiring future, and can be achieved?
• Do you know what’s expected of you in working toward carbon reduction?
• Do you feel as though you’re working with, or against, other units in the organisation to achieve carbon reduction targets?

Evaluating the success of your first steps

To assess the effectiveness of your clarity of vision, consider these questions:

• Do the members of your organisation feel a compelling need to adopt carbon reduction practices and thinking?
• Do the members of your organisation have a clear shared understanding of what you’re striving to create?
• Have you built alignment with the right people with the right skills, political power, credibility, new ideas and intelligence to drive a carbon reduction change?

Whether you’re new to carbon vision-setting or not, the reflections above can help you to establish a clear, purposeful path to net zero, making carbon reduction feel real and achievable.

Driving commitment is crucial, as we’ve already achieved with a client here, implementing a carbon roadmap to drive a 23% reduction.

For tailored guidance on carbon vision-setting for your asset or portfolio, contact Craig Needham.

Click here for the second instalment of our carbon roadmap series – Understanding your carbon performance with data and analysis.