Housing association Bromford has set its first-ever decarbonisation targets as it progresses to becoming a net-zero carbon company by 2050.

Announced alongside the publication of its annual Sustainability Impact Report, the housing association is planning to reduce the intensity of its Scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon emissions by 10% over the next four years, measured on a CO2/m2 basis. Reducing carbon intensity is a target on four of Bromford’s sustainability linked loans with UK-based lenders worth more than £450m that the housing association has secured over the past 18 months.

At the end of March 2024 Bromford’s CO2 emissions totalled 90,502 tonnes, which produces a CO2 intensity of 30.42kg per square metre. Bromford’s goal is to reduce this to 27.35kg per square metre by March 2028 by building new energy efficient homes, increasing the electrification of its fleet of vehicles, creating operational efficiencies and retrofitting its existing homes to make them warmer and cheaper to run for its customers.

Bromford is already carrying out energy efficiency work and during the year to the end of March 2024, carried out improvements to more than 4,000 of its existing homes. Now 89% of the Tewkesbury-based housing association’s 47,000 homes have an EPC energy efficiency rating of C or above. And of the 1,191 new homes Bromford built in 2023-24, 81% were rated EPC A or B, including its first category 1 MMC homes built at Moreton in Marsh in Gloucestershire.

Bromford has published its Sustainability Impact Report in compliance with the Sustainable Reporting Standard for Social Housing, of which it was an early adopter. Customer advocacy was at 91% in March 2024, while 85% of all customers said they were satisfied with the services they’d received. More than nine out of ten customers said their homes were safe, with a similar number saying they felt Bromford treated them fairly and with respect. All Bromford’s homes had had gas and electrical safety checks and fire risk assessments by the end of March 2024, while 99.98% of homes met the Decent Homes Standard. During the year to the end of March Bromford also built an additional 551 social rent homes, reduced its gender pay gap from 6.5% to 3.8% and provided more apprenticeship and graduate opportunities. And it achieved this while retaining its G1/V1 rating from the Regulator of Social Housing.

Bromford’s Chief Executive Robert Nettleton said: “We understand that sustainability is most powerful when it enhances the lives of our customers and colleagues. In 2024, we continued our work on improving the energy efficiency of our existing homes, with 89% now rated EPC C or above. We’ve also invested in regenerating older properties, completing 52 new homes on previously demolished sites and our efforts in this area are just one aspect of our broader commitment to decarbonisation and ensuring our homes are fit for the future.

“We are proud of the progress we have made but recognise there is still much work to be done. As we move forward, we will continue to listen to our customers, invest in our homes and communities and strive to make Bromford a place where everyone can thrive.”

Last year Bromford secured £2.5 million through the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, as part of a joint bid through the West Midlands Combined Authority. The housing association match funded this grant which is to be used to finance energy efficiency improvements to 250 of its homes, to improve their energy efficiency ratings and reduce their carbon emissions. Work has already been completed to 60 homes and Bromford is on course to have finished work to all 250 homes by autumn 2025.

At the same time as publishing the Impact Report Bromford has published its Use of Proceeds Report covering the c£150m of loans issued and drawn in 2023-24. These loans were issued under the Use of Proceeds section of the Sustainable Finance Framework (SFF), which requires Bromford to publish a report, which is subject to external assurance, demonstrating how the proceeds have been used and allocated to eligible projects. In addition the SFF has also been updated to reflect developments since the previous version in May 2023 and this is published along with the other reports.