Sustainability

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Sustainability

What we are doing at South Lakes Housing to tackle Climate Change! South Lakes Housing is committed to getting to Net Zero as soon as possible to play their part in the Net Zero ambitions of Cumbria.

Net Zero is essential if we want to slow down global warming and to have a hope of achieving the Paris agreement. But more importantly for the community of Cumbria, there is a need to prevent the changes that are happening to our climate that will impact our residents’ lives and livelihoods. To reduce the risk of flooding, overheating and other impacts of extreme weather situations being caused by global warming.

Click here to view a copy of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero Privacy Statement.

Our Sustainability Strategy

This lays out how we are going to reduce our Carbon footprint and increase our carbon sequestration (the process of capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide) across our operations and residents. Using our position to influence change of our contractors, colleagues, and residents to reduce their carbon footprint.

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report 2025

Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) Report 2023

You can also read more information about our sustainability successes and plans.

We will reduce the carbon footprint of our operations.

Through increasing our use of Low Carbon transport in our operations, reducing the need for fossil fuels in the running of our offices and depots, and ensuring our operations are as minimum impact as possible.
Our colleagues will be supported to understand the climate crisis through an education programme of carbon literacy training

This training course will help the staff team to understand the situation and what they can do to reduce the organisation’s carbon footprint. We will roll this out to our residents to increase their knowledge and understanding of what they can do to reduce their carbon footprints.
Increase low carbon technology

In our communities we will increase the use of Low Carbon technology across our homes, increasing the number of homes with renewable energy supply and ensuring that the homes are as well insulated as possible to minimise the amount of heating needed to maintain a warm, comfortable home.
Through management of our outdoor spaces, we will increase their capacity for Carbon sequestration.

To ensure that we are doing as much as we can to increase the amount of carbon being taken from the air. We will understand the health of our green spaces and increase their health and capacity to have a positive impact upon the carbon in the air.
Ready to deal with climate change

Alongside our work to reduce our carbon footprint to support the slowing down of climate change, we will be ready to deal with the changes already happening due to climate change. We will support our colleagues and residents to deal with the challenges faced due to increased flood risks, overheating and risks of energy shortages.

Our SILVER SHIFT Sustainability standard certification

We are delighted to have recently been accredited by the SHIFT Sustainability standard. This Sustainability standard, accredited by SHIFT environmental, is the nationally recognised environmental standard for social housing.

We have been accredited at Silver standard for our work on reducing our impact upon the environment and reducing our carbon footprint. The assessment covers the energy efficiency of our homes, energy consumption in sheltered schemes and office along with all other activities involved that impact upon our carbon footprint.

Visit SHIFT environmental

Richard Hayes, Director of Homes commented

It’s really exciting to see all the hard work we have been doing to reduce our carbon footprint being recognised. Through this work we have developed an understanding of the carbon footprint of South Lakes Housing, and what we must do to meet our 2050 Net Zero ambitions. This will include making our homes more energy efficient, reducing the carbon footprint of our new-builds and reducing the fuel used in our vehicles.