Orbit Group have published their inaugural ESG report and utilised Convene ESG to do so. We invited them to talk at the CIH Housing 2022 Conference about their efforts. Here’s what we learnt about Orbit’s ESG strategy and how Convene ESG helped them produce the best report possible!
What is Orbit’s ESG Strategy?
As a social housing organisation, Orbit’s ESG strategy is focused on “social value” whilst simultaneously developing their plan to minimise the environmental impact of their homes, both present and future.
The organisation already has their own sustainability scheme in place, Orbit Earth, which aims to tackle climate change. Alongside this, they were one of the early adopters of the Sustainability Reporting Standard set out by The ESG Social Housing Working Group, which determines a set of ESG criteria in which the social housing sector should focus on.
Their strategy is also based around the fact that their homes are affordable. This means that they have to be energy efficient as well as good for society, easily ticking off both the E and S of ESG! Their SRS report also highlights the efforts they are making to tackle this, including better insulating their existing homes.
Orbit presents their ESG strategy by dividing it up into 4 key elements; customers and community, their people, their partners and their environment. This easily covers each category of ESG as well as the SRS.
What Are Orbit’s ESG Goals?
Orbit Housing is part of an active effort to achieve the housing sector’s target of net zero by 2050. They are also concerned with creating affordable and environmentally friendly homes, using sustainable resources and in a more socially responsible manner.
They also have their own targets aided by the SRS including ensuring all of their properties are Energy Efficiency band C or above by 2030. This includes both their existing properties which they are retrofitting and insulating with sustainable materials and encouraging their residents to switch to “green” energy companies.
What are the key elements of Orbit’s ESG Report?
Orbit has broken down their report into 3 elements; their ESG plan, their ESG activities and their ESG stories. This is an easy way to condense the report into a digestible formula for stakeholders and investors. Then, at the end of the ESG report they attach their SRS report, in the table format provided by the ESG Social Housing Working Group.
Their ESG plan is broken down into the 4 key elements of their ESG strategy and they demonstrate how each element is being achieved with an ESG story, or Case Study.
How Did Convene ESG Help Them With Their Report?
Convene ESG is a purpose-built solution to help Housing Associations develop the best ESG and SRS Reports possible. With Convene ESG you can develop a collaborative workflow, assigning certain sections of the ESG or SRS report to the required people. Once all the sections are filled in, Convene ESG will produce a formatted Word Document ready for you to publish!
Orbit as one of our early adopters was able to take full advantage of this and streamline their ESG proceedings from start to finish. This means they were easily able to highlight their ESG KPIs and focus on what needs to be addressed so their ESG strategy can improve!
Convene ESG also has a built-in comparison feature, which allows you to compare against competitors' formatting of their publicly accessible reports, and their results! This will help the whole of the housing sector develop the best reports possible!
As a software provider already trusted by 100s of housing organisations, don't hesitate to contact us or book a free demo.
