Clarion identifies 15% gap in carbon reduction in climate transition plan

Clarion identified this gap by modelling its activities out to 2050 using conservative electricity grid decarbonisation and overlaying its long-term financial plan.

To help bridge this gap by 2050, Clarion will be continuously trialling and testing partnerships, funding, innovation and engagement opportunities. It added that some of the technologies and materials it will use do not exist yet.

As part of its partnership strategy, Clarion has already engaged with Octopus Energy to explore zero bills opportunities across its new build and existing homes portfolio.

It has also engaged with Bell Phillips, an architecture and planning company, to trial the development of a new vernacular architecture for all new buildings below 11 metres, using natural materials to reduce embodied carbon and contribute to reforestation.

Clarion added that it has partnered with the UK Green Building Council, a sustainability industry network, in its Upgrading Britian’s Homes project. The project outlines to the new government the required public and private investment needed to decarbonise the social housing sector.

Clarion said the partnership will allow it to lead partners on the Regenerative Places programme, which focuses on bringing forward the wider sustainability benefits from place-based retrofit programmes.

It has also joined the Future Homes Hub, with other members across steering and working groups on embodied carbon, heat pumps and sustainability metrics, to advocate for the accelerated action on sustainability in the housebuilding sector.

Clarion said it will continue to collaborate and partner with other housing associations that are dealing with similar challenges, through groups including the sector’s ESG Working Group.

In terms of innovation plans, Clarion said it would need to evolve over time to drive results and respond to emerging opportunities in the market.

It has looked at thermal imagery at scale using drone technology and city-wide drive-by technology, supported by government interventions.

Clarion has also delivered pilots to seek to guarantee that a resident’s heat is at 18°C, paid for by their landlord. The pilots focus on understanding customer behaviour in relation to energy against their existing model of payment.

Another programme sought to understand the effectiveness of devices used in a resident’s home to provide real-time data.

Clarion has also implemented a place-based programme across whole neighbourhoods to identify and consider how other landlords, local authorities, and public and private buildings can help to generate energy. This includes integrating nature recovery plans and green spaces to support decarbonisation initiatives.

It added that it has introduced ‘energy or heat as a service’ models, which generate income through renewable energy, resulting in lower bills for residents and returns that go towards retrofit investment.

Selling verified carbon credits through offset schemes has also helped Clarion to obtain funding for retrofit projects, it said. 

The landlord said it will be engaging with industry leaders, supply chain partners and the government.

Priorities include advocating for grid decarbonisation and for an improvement to the spark gap to make heating homes with low-carbon electricity more widely affordable, as well as supporting national and regional-scale education and engagement campaigns on the transition to low-carbon technologies and materials.

Other priorities include establishing clarity on streamlined long-term retrofit funding in line with a long-term plan for housing, piloting and encouraging further innovative financial models that reduce the costs of retrofitting large-scale housing portfolios, and providing and advocating for green skills support and funding.

Clarion said it will also be exploring rent flexibility for more energy-efficient homes, while ensuring a just transition for residents who it considers to be in fuel poverty.

It added that it will be lobbying embodied carbon to be more consistently regulated to drive industry change, improve measurement and work towards aligning with the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard.

A full review of Clarion’s climate transition plan will take place every three to five years, and updates on progress will be published through its annual Making a Difference ESG report.

Miles Lewis, director of sustainability at Clarion, said: “In developing our climate transition plan, we’ve been transparent about the methods we’ve used and the challenges we face as we move towards our net zero carbon target.

“We want others in the sector and beyond to use this plan, challenge it and engage with us on it so that it improves over time and we all collectively achieve our goals.”

He added: “We know we must accelerate action, and our climate transition plan is designed to evolve as new data, technology and opportunities emerge.

“Ultimately, it is through engagement, partnerships and innovation that we will find new solutions that enable us to bridge our gap to net zero carbon by 2050, and we’re committed to meeting this challenge head-on.”