Environmental sustainability

We're committed to becoming a more sustainable organisation. Our regulatory principles were updated in 2023[1] so we need to contribute towards environmental targets and the UK commitment to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. We aim to contribute to these targets by managing the impact of our own operations.

Our operations

As a regulator, we aim to model good behaviours in everything we do, including minimising our impact on the environment.

This impact is relatively small compared with many large financial services firms that often have numerous operations, across many jurisdictions. But as a responsible business, we're committed to minimising our environmental footprint.

We focus our efforts on the areas where we can make the biggest impact, such as:

• energy
• emissions
• water usage
• minimisation of waste 
• recycling and paper use
• business travel
• ICT and digital services

But we also focus on procurement and the suppliers and contractors we work with.

Our Environmental Policy Statement[2] and the Environmental Management System (EMS) provide the main framework for achieving environmental sustainability in our operations.

Our EMS is compliant and certified with the ISO 14001 standard. Achieving this standard needs the collaboration of our people adopting environmentally sound practices, our contractors supporting our environmental policy and processes, and the commitment of our management.

Find out more about the targets and metrics we use[3] to measure our progress.

Commitment to net zero

We plan to reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases over time, so by 2045 we will not be contributing to climate change. This is known as ‘net zero’. We have a net zero transition plan[4]  that describes how we aim to achieve this.

Environmental sustainability was integrated into the construction of our head office in Stratford, which we’ve occupied since 2018. We were awarded the BREEAM[5] rating of 'Excellent' for this project. Our building uses efficient heating and cooling technologies, which help to cut our carbon footprint as well as reduce costs.

Procurement

Procurement[6] is an important part of delivering sustainability. We rely on our suppliers to help us deliver our objectives and we expect them to align with our values and support our mission to add public value.

Suppliers are guided by the Supplier Code of Conduct[7] and must comply with our internal policies and procedures, including the Environmental Policy and the EMS.

Reporting

The Annual Sustainability Report[8] is included in our Annual Report[9]. It provides an overview of our environmental performance in line with the Treasury’s guidance on sustainability reporting[10] in the public sector.

We publish annual climate-related financial disclosures[11]. These are aligned with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and outline the risks and opportunities from climate change that are relevant to our activities.