Part of Livv Housing Group’s pledge to deliver a positive social impact is to reduce its carbon emissions and, through a series of initiatives over the last 12 months, the housing association has reduced them by an impressive 17%, with plans to take that even further over the next year.
Livv’s transformative initiatives have been driven by the introduction of an Environment and Sustainability Management Group, which has been tasked with driving the sustainability strategy improvement throughout the organisation.
With the group’s guidance, Livv achieved the following key results in 2019/20:
Energy Consumption:
- Annual emissions were reduced by 326 TCO2e (tonnes of CO2 – standard unit for measuring carbon footprints), delivering a 17.3% reduction on the previous year
- Annual electricity consumption was reduced by 456,158 KWh (18% reduction on previous year)
- Annual Gas consumption was reduced by 519,568 KWh (16% reduction on previous year)
Transport use:
- Annual emissions from transport use were reduced by 29 TCO2e (6% reduction on the previous year)
- Leased fleet reductions of 49,221 KWh were achieved (3% reduction on previous year)
- Grey fleet reductions of 9,837 KWh were achieved (20% reduction on previous year)
Several low energy LED lighting replacement projects were implemented, while a number of measures were also undertaken to reduce fuel usage across the housing association’s commercial fleet. Livv switched to lower emission vehicles and focused on driver training and more efficient vehicle use, leading to a further 6% reduction in emissions from vehicles.
A further boost to Livv’s progress in reducing emissions has come with the switch to using electricity provided by Good Energy, which generates electricity from 100% renewable sources.
This move is expected to reduce emissions by a further 586 TCO2e (tonnes of CO2) in the coming year.
The overall impact of these initiatives was that in 2019-2020, Livv saw its annual emissions reduced by 326 TCO2e in total (tonnes of CO2 – standard unit for measuring carbon footprints), with an 18% reduction in annual electricity consumption and a 16% reduction in gas consumption.
Tony Cahill, Executive Director Property at Livv Housing Group, said: “We are dedicated to achieving positive social impact and flourishing communities, which means that reducing our energy consumption and carbon emissions is a key objective for Livv.
“We all need to play our part in making a difference when it comes to the environment and I’m pleased that we are able to see the impact of our work so far in this area.
“We are already well underway with our work to make further reductions this year and I’d like to thank my colleagues for their drive and initiative when it comes to finding ways to reduce our energy consumption.”
For more information visit Livv Housing Groups website, here.