Grosvenor fast-tracks climate strategy

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
Oct 13, 2021

Grosvenor Britain & Ireland (GBI) wants to become the UK’s first carbon-neutral property company. The commercial property giant, which is landlord to nearly 1,000 businesses in London's West End, is fast-tracking its ‘Net Zero Carbon Pathway’ climate strategy commitment to be completed five years earlier than planned.

Launching its “why wait” policy, it wants to mitigate remaining emissions by 2025 through offsetting. That means it wants all emissions, including corporate, building, development and value chain, to be “reduced and mitigated”.

This is likely to have an impact on tenants with retailers renting Grosvenor properties also likely to be expected to be as eco-focused as possible.

From this year, Grosvenor said it will offset all corporate emissions. Alongside this, all new developments will be net zero on completion. By 2025, it will offset its full impact across the entire business, making it carbon neutral.

Under its wider commitment, “absolute emissions reduction remains the priority”, with Grosvenor committed to a 52% reduction between 2019 and 2030.

James Raynor, CEO, Grosvenor Britain & Ireland said: “Globally, emissions need to be cut by more than half by 2030 if we’re going to stand any chance of meeting the Paris target of limiting climate warming to 1.5 degrees. To make that happen, we need to use every tool at our disposal. We must reduce emissions as fast as possible while taking responsibility for the emissions we, and our value chain, produce. And that means offsetting.

“We recognise the complexities of offsetting, but when governed robustly and alongside commitments to reductions in emissions, it is an important tool to achieving net zero. So, why wait? We need to get on with action and take responsibility for the emissions we’re generating right now.”