Handelsbanken has become the latest organisation to adopt the Sustainability Reporting Standard for Social Housing (SRS).

Handelsbanken, a Swedish bank with offices in the UK, joins more than 150 organisations to have adopted the SRS since its creation in 2020. It is one of nearly 40 funders to have adopted the Standard so far.

Thomas Bashford, who leads Handelsbanken’s lending proposition for housing associations, said: “Housing associations have long been core customers for Handelsbanken, as a real estate lender, an institutional deposit taker, and with the responsibility we feel to our 150-plus local communities.

“At the same time, we’ve committed to lead among UK lenders with a 2040 net zero target and ambitious interim goals for emissions reductions. So it’s natural we should look to support housing associations to advance their climate and sustainability priorities successfully, and we see that adopting the Sustainable Reporting Standard for Social Housing can help us do this more effectively.”

Brendan Sarsfield, Chair of Sustainability for Housing, said: “We are delighted to welcome Handelsbanken the SRS adopter community.

“With more and more financial institutions adopting and endorsing the Standard all the time, we remain motivated to keep pursuing our goal of connecting social housing providers with funders.”