Orchard Street – a commercial property investment manager which manages retail units, offices and industrial facilities worth over £4bn – recently announced plans to reach net zero ahead of the 2050 UK government deadline.
The company made the plans public via their 2020 Responsible Investment Report, which outlines that it plans to publish a transition strategy later this year, detailing how five of its highest-emitting buildings can become net zero by 2030, with learning from this applied across the company’s portfolio.
Emissions from occupants currently represent more than 90% of Orchard Street’s total annual carbon footprint and therefore its net zero strategy will focus on its managed buildings, as opposed to its direct operations.
The business will be targeting a 25% reduction in occupier carbon intensity by 2025 to ensure that decarbonisation work starts across the broader portfolio as soon as possible. Occupiers will be supported to improve energy efficiency through retrofitting, digital technologies and behaviour change schemes. Targets will be reviewed and could be updated as soon as 2022.
Orchard Street will also apply stricter carbon requirements to sites it develops in the future. 2020 saw the business secure planning permission for a carbon-neutral industrial site in Surrey and an industrial redevelopment site in West London which has a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating and Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) grade of A+.
The Responsible Investment Report additionally outlines the firm’s plans to report in line with the with TCFD’s (Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures’) recommendations. Orchard Street says it is already following most TCFD recommendations but is looking to enhance disclosure with scenario analysis – the process of assessing likely climate risk costs in a range of warming scenarios – from this financial year.
“As a non-listed firm, we are not obligated to make disclosures at this level, however we fully believe it is the right thing to do to highlight our serious approach to ESG,” Orchard Street managing partner Philip Gadsden said. “As we deliver on our commitments in 2021 and launch both a net-zero carbon 2030 transition strategy and a new corporate Responsible Investment Strategy aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, our commitment to upholding the highest standards of transparency and accountability whilst meeting the needs of our people and communities will align us with best practice and is the right long-term positioning for our firm.”
