Sustainability governance
We have established clear roles and responsibilities for managing sustainability issues.
Board level: Our Board of Directors is responsible for oversight of our environmental, social, governance (ESG) initiatives, risks and opportunities. The Board receives an ESG update at every meeting, including a quarterly ESG scorecard with key performance indicators and progress towards environmental targets. The Board has conducted a mapping exercise to ensure that all ESG matters are considered by the Board or one of its Committees.
Executive level: Our CEO has ultimate responsibility for achieving our sustainability targets. Sustainability is a standing agenda item for GMT meetings and members receive a monthly update from the Director of Sustainability.
LEAF Committee: Chaired by a member of our GMT, our LEAF Committee is responsible for reviewing sustainability strategy, risks and opportunities. LEAF members include the heads or senior leaders of our sustainability, technical, production, procurement, commercial, customer and design functions and representatives from our strategic land and regional businesses. It met four times in 2023. We will be updating our committee structure for sustainability during 2024.
The Director of Sustainability is responsible for monitoring sustainability issues and oversees our reporting and disclosures. He reports to our Group Technical Director who leads our Road to Net Zero Carbon Working Group, and reports directly to our Chief Executive. Our Head of HSE is responsible for our Environmental Management System.
Cross-functional working groups, including our Road to Zero Carbon Working Group, Functional Interface Group, Charity Committee, Construction Waste Group, Groundworks Group and our ED&I Committee support effective governance of sustainability.
Operational level: The Managing Director in each regional business has responsibility for achieving our sustainability targets at the local level. They have nominated a Sustainability Sponsor within their management team and a Sustainability Champion to assist with implementation and data collection. Each regional business has annual targets for energy, water and waste up to 2025.
At a project level, the sustainability aspects of a development are initially the responsibility of the land and planning and design teams. Once work has begun on site, the production management team, including the Site Manager and contractors, ensures that a wide range of site-specific sustainability issues are addressed and monitored.
Training: We have a sustainability training plan for relevant functions to support the roll out of our environment strategy and net zero commitment. Our induction e-learning programme includes topics such as diversity and inclusion and modern slavery. Functional training, such as our Production Academies, also covers aspects of sustainability and we have more detailed training for our Sustainability Champions network.
Remuneration: A scope 1 and 2 carbon reduction measure was included in the incentive plans for senior management and regional management in 2023, to support progress on our near term carbon reduction targets. There were also customer service and build quality measures. 15% of the potential bonus for Site Managers is linked to performance on waste reduction. Health and safety and customer service form part of all senior managers’ business objectives
