Coventry Building Society is a mutual organisation which has been meeting our members’ needs for savings and residential mortgages since 1884. We pride ourselves on our values-led approach to looking after our members, and we extend the same responsible and prudent approach to our stewardship of the natural environment.

 

We have a responsibility to manage this impact, both for our members, and for the communities in which we operate. We are committed to continually improving our environmental performance, in line with best practice standards to protect our natural environment, make a positive contribution towards climate change and reducing the environmental impact of our business activities.

Net zero carbon

We’re committed to reducing our impact on the environment. We are a carbon neutral organisation and have been since 2021. We are working towards achieving Net Zero for Scope 3 upstream emissions by 2030 and we have an ambition to be entirely Net Zero by 2040 across Scopes 1, 2 and 3. We have a comprehensive net zero transition plan to progress our climate ambitions, however our indirect emissions are our largest area of impact. Therefore, we continue to support our borrowers in making energy efficiency improvements and engage our supply chain to to reduce our carbon footprint.
 

During 2024, we signed the letter of intent with SBTi, however during the year Coventry Building Society underwent the acquisition of The Co-operative Bank. Therefore, we took a conscious decision to pause setting a science-based target, to ensure our approach regarding long term climate commitments are cohesive across Coventry Building Society and The Co-operative Bank. During 2025, we will work to leverage best practice from both Coventry Building Society and the Bank, enhancing our sustainability initiatives and ambitions. This collaboration will inform our combined net zero strategy, ensuring  it is robust and achievable. We will look to submit a SBTi collectively as a group in the near future.

 

Energy use

We will continue to look at ways to reduce our demand for energy, through efficiency projects and aligning our capital expenditure to 1.5° pathway. In 2021 we transitioned to 100% renewable energy by procuring Energy Attributable Certificates (EACs) also known as Renewable Energy Certificates to remove our carbon emissions from our Scope 2 activities. 

 

Paper use

We will only procure FSC certified paper for use within Coventry Building Society and for communicating to members. Our in-house print facility is, and will continue to be, accredited with the FSC Chain of Custody certification; ensuring all the paper we use is sourced responsibly, helping to protect forests, wildlife and communities. We will also continue to be part of the Forest Carbon Scheme to ensure new trees are planted to absorb carbon dioxide from the air, to make up for the environmental impact of the paper we use. 

 

We will seek out new ways of working with our members digitally to reduce our paper consumption, by continuing to ask members to provide their email information and look at what other communications we can send to them digitally rather than in hard copy. 

 

Waste reduction and disposal 

We are committed to sending zero waste to landfill by disposing of waste in a legally compliant and environmentally responsible way. We will continue to reduce the amount of waste we produce, by avoiding, re-using and recycling wherever possible. 

 

Electric vehicles

We are committed to transition our company fleet to 100% electric vehicles by 2030. We will continue to use electric vans for deliveries to head offices, and will continue to roll out electric vehicle charging points at our office sites. 

 

Our members 

We will work with members to encourage reductions in negative environmental impact by educating our customer base on the issue of climate change and how it impacts housing. Providing simple secured lending solutions to encourage carbon reduction, reward proactive change by our members and collaborate with other key stakeholders to promote the decarbonisation agenda.

 

Our employees

We will continue to promote sustainability, environmental awareness and engagement across Coventry Building Society.  We will educate our colleagues through delivering best practice examples whilst at work and at home. We will continue to empower our Environmental Advocates to take action against climate change and provide local support; such as running local awareness campaigns aligned to our sustainability strategy, to enable all colleagues to develop skills, knowledge and values that promote and encourage behaviour in support of a sustainable environment.

 

Our suppliers and contractors

We will engage with suppliers and contractors to ensure that goods and services meet Coventry Building Society’s expectations in terms of environmental standards and work with them to deliver change. We will continue to partner with a third party to undertake sustainability assessments for both existing suppliers and new sourcing activities. In 2023, we were accredited with ISO 20400, the globally recognised standard for sustainable procurement.

 

Our influence on society

We will act in an environmentally responsible manner, meeting relevant UK and European legislative and regulatory requirements. We will engage with regulators and Government on climate change matters, publicly disclose our climate strategy positions and work with partners to deliver change. We will deliver these objectives through our responsibilities as a signatory of the UN Principles of Responsible Banking and by formulating goals and targets under the auspices of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. 

 

Environmental management

We will commit to continuous improvement of our environmental management by annually reporting on our progress, seeking external third party assurance, achieving and maintaining ISO 14064-1 accreditation against our GHG emissions data, and aligning to external reporting frameworks.

 

Climate risk

We will continue to develop our capabilities to measure, report and mitigate the risks we face arising from climate change. 

 

Accountability

The Board has overall accountability for the management of all risks and opportunities relating to climate change as well as our broader approach to sustainability. The Board Risk Committee and Board Audit Committee review our climate related risks and climate reporting respectively.

 

This policy will be reviewed annually to ensure that it is up-to-date and to measure Coventry Building Society’s compliance with it.

 

Our 2024 environmental report starts on page 19 of the Sustainability Report (10MB PDF)