I’m looking forward to discussing all things environmental, social and governance at the upcoming Inside Housing Communications Conference.

Quite rightly, ESG is climbing to the top of priority lists across the sector. And Abri’s no different – it’s fundamental to what we do.

First and foremost, we exist to create, great sustainable communities and enhance people’s life chances. And we’re committed to doing so in an environmentally-friendly way.

This is a challenge. But one we think we’re equipped to meet head on. How? By taking a twin approach:

1. Inform and enable our colleagues
2. Empower our customers

Both in the name of helping people make positive changes.

Everyone working at Abri has received Carbon Literacy training, during which they learn about their personal impact on the environment and the steps they can take to make positive changes. This has been a real success. There are many examples across our business of people changing their lifestyle as a result of that training. Some people have changed the way they eat – eating less meat, for example. We’ve installed EV chargers at the office to support colleagues who have chosen to move over to electric vehicles and to encourage others to do so. Others have chosen to ditch the car altogether and cycle to work.

Similarly, we’re always looking for ways we can inform and empower our customers. All under the banner of making positive climate change accessible to all.

For our recent Living Well campaign, for example, we enlisted the help of eco-chef Tom Hunt. Together we pulled together a customer guide, in which Tom provided top tips and recipes designed to help people eat in an environmentally-friendly, yet cost-effective, way. As a result, a customer of ours appeared on the BBC’s World at One programme to talk about tending her allotment and how she eats in a more sustainable way.

We also understand that it’s not just about how we live. It’s also about the buildings we live in.

It’s why we’re undertaking an extensive retrofit programme, underpinned by our commitment to the Future Homes Standard. This is embedded in our design principles.

We’re surveying all our properties to make sure our customers’ homes are as efficient as possible. This includes upgrading windows and doors, improving cavity wall insulation, ensuring there’s proper ventilation, and checking water heating systems are running efficiently.

We’ve also appointed a dedicated Sustainability Executive to analyse what we’re doing and understand how we can continue to improve.

As an organisation and as a sector there’s always more we can do. We know that ESG is something that fully deserves to be a top priority. I’m looking forward to talking about it more at this year’s comms conference.