Convene is the leading Board Portal provider to the Housing Sector. Read on to find out why.

The first step on any journey is a plan, and SRS Reporting is not a simple process! 

Today we hosted yet another successful webinar, this time choosing to focus on the future of ESG. 2023 will also bring in new challenges, including how to report on Scope 3 emissions, net zero targets and how to sustainably build new homes. The SRS can help massively with this as it allows for a collaborative effort amongst other Housing Associations. Convene ESG is working on assisting you with these problems by creating a Carbon Calculator and ensuring our “best practices” library is regularly updated. 

2022 has been yet another exciting and successful year here at Convene. At the beginning of the year we were named Best Board Portal by Digital Quadrant Awards!

Smaller Housing Associations have many important concerns, from safety to financing. Therefore, it is easy for more seemingly trivial matters like Environmental Social Governance (ESG) to get left to the wayside. However, the knock on social impact of not taking these issues seriously for your residents, particularly during this housing crisis, are dire. 

The Task Force On Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) was set up in 2015 by the Financial Stability Board (FSB) as a set of recommendations. Many countries and trading blocs like the European Union, Singapore, Canada and Japan have adopted it as a regulatory framework. 

Last week, Convene sponsored the 2022 ICGN Proxy Voting Conference. It was full of informative talks and we want to thank all of the speakers and attendees for their engagement. We would also like to thank the ICGN for putting on a fantastic conference and awards ceremony. 

It was time again for another of Convene’s ESG Webinars earlier today, if you missed out you can watch the recording here. 

Our ESG Webinar today was well attended, for those of you who signed up but were unable to make it, be sure to check your inbox for a link to the video. Once again we were joined by Arturo Dell, our Convene ESG consultant and also a Housemark Director, and Russell Smith from Orbit Housing who has recently used Convene ESG to produce their latest SRS Report. 

Orbit Housing recently spoke at one of our coveted ESG webinars. Orbit Housing Group is one of Convene ESG’s early adopters and discussed how Convene ESG helped them to successfully execute their ESG goals. If you were unable to attend, you can read on for our summary or attend our next ESG webinar, keep an eye on our LinkedIn and your inbox.

Access to funds is an essential part of all business operations and this is no different when funding your ESG projects. Recently, there has been an increase in financial opportunities for those who can demonstrate their organisation’s sustainability efforts. We have written about how an SRS Report has helped housing associations gain access to ESG funds in the past. In this article, we will discuss the wider range of sustainable financing options available and what you can do to access them.

Standards are a part of daily business. We all have targets, processes and a quality of work we are expected to maintain. It is so engrained you may not even realise that what you are doing is part of a standard. These goals and methods not only help your organisation but also your industry as a whole.

Housing Associations in the UK have been signing up in droves to the SRS. This ESG metric allows Housing Associations to hone in on KPIs that actually matter to them. The benefits of a solid ESG plan can be seen in your profitability, not only because most schemes will save you money in the long term, but also because it can encourage external investors. 

There are many different issues you can encounter when trying to make your properties as carbon-neutral as possible. If you acquire older buildings, and the land with them, is it better to retrofit them with the required updates, or should you demolish them and start over?