Piers Williamson, Chair of Sustainability for Housing (SfH), and Danielle Hughes, Associate at SfH, were delighted to join the Sustainable Housing Strategy Group’s (SHGS) meeting at The Guinness Partnership’s offices in September to share the latest updates from SfH and lead a conversation about communicating ESG internally. Andy Smith from SfH’s secretariat, The Good Economy, was also in attendance virtually.
The session began by exploring the value of SRS reporting in strengthening access to funding. Piers emphasised the demand for strong sustainability reporting from banks and institutional investors, noting that solid ESG credentials have become a “hygiene factor” for many funders. Piers stated that ESG has played a fundamental role in the social housing sector’s ability to raise over £100bn of private finance and will continue to be central in connecting housing providers to long-term funding in the years to come.
Piers also highlighted the Sustainability Reporting Standard for Social Housing’s (SRS) role in simplifying the wider sustainability reporting landscape, making ESG reporting more valuable and relevant for the sector. One of SfH’s key objectives is to ensure the SRS aligns with broader sustainability reporting regulations – namely, the incoming UK Sustainability Reporting Standards. The more the SRS can do to bridge the gap between housing associations and wider reporting standards, the better, Piers emphasised.
Finally, Piers underscored the collective power of the sector’s SRS dataset. On top of serving as an informative tool for funders, the data represents the shared efforts of housing associations up and down the country to create a better future for their residents. This evidence of social and environmental impact is a crucial aid for relationship-building with Government, funders, employees, residents and other key stakeholders.
Danielle then led a discussion about communicating sustainability topics internally within housing associations, a challenging but important area. An abundance of acronyms, jargon, siloed ways of working and mixed political signals can make it difficult to communicate key ESG topics internally with staff. Danielle posited that ineffective communication can lead to a lack of staff buy-in, reduced prioritisation of sustainability in budget decisions and poor integration of sustainability into the organisation’s culture.
Key points raised by the SHGS members to improve communication of sustainability topics included avoiding jargon and acronyms whenever possible, focusing on the principles underlying ESG rather than the (often politically charged) acronym itself, staying consistent with messaging and relating sustainability back to individual staff roles. Good governance is also essential to ensure that sustainability leaders are part of key conversations and decision-making.
SfH appreciated the opportunity to engage with some of the sector’s leading sustainability professionals, receive feedback and discuss the sustainability challenges of the day. These conversations are vital to ensuring the Sustainability Reporting Standard (SRS) remains shaped by – and for – the social housing community.
